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'There was not one second of freedom... It was one of the toughest I have played, personally' - Charles Ollivon
France captain Charles Ollivon believes the battling Guinness Six Nations victory over Ireland represents a significant “new step” for his rapidly-developing side.
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Les Bleus underlined their status as tournament favourites by grinding out a 15-13 win in Dublin to move top of the championship table.
You know you've put everything into a rugby match when you're still out of breath 15 minutes after the final whistle! ??
Charles Ollivon, what a captain and leader! ? #GuinnessSixNations @FranceRugby pic.twitter.com/BfeJVlIvf9
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 15, 2021
Fabien Galthie’s men showed glimpses of their scintillating best on Sunday but a first Aviva Stadium success in a decade was primarily built on the strength of their resilient defence.
Flanker Ollivon, who scored the opening try, felt the game was among the toughest physical tests of his career and attributed an important victory to France’s mentality.
“It was a tough match, a real ferocious battle and I am so happy for the group, for our supporters and for France,” he said.
“I think it’s a state of mind, it made us win. It was a very, very tough battle, there was not one second of freedom.
“We have to congratulate every guy, the whole team. This is real pride for us. When you look at the quality of the opponent, we need to savour that we won that match.
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“It was a very intense battle. It was one of the toughest I have played, personally, that’s why I am so happy we ended up as winners.
“I think it’s a new step for the group and this is important; we are going forward, we are improving, we need to remain calm, we need to work, but we are going the right way.”
Toulon player Ollivon touched down his seventh try in 10 games while France were temporarily a man light following Bernard Le Roux’s yellow card for a trip on Keith Earls.
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?? Retrouvez les réactions pleines de joies dans les vestiaires après la victoire !@FickouG, @GregAlldritt & @Dupont9A reviennent sur cette victoire au bout du suspens ! #NeFaisonsXV #XVdeFrance #IRLFRA pic.twitter.com/QgH30aQKxx
— France Rugby (@FranceRugby) February 14, 2021
Damian Penaud added a second score in the second half and, despite replacement Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher crossing to cut the advantage, Les Bleus held on for a ninth win from 11 games under head coach Galthie.
It is 11 years since France last tasted Six Nations glory.
Team manager Raphael Ibanez, who won the championship four times as a player, including two Grand Slams, is refusing to get carried away with title talk ahead of hosting Scotland on February 28.
“We’ll see. We’ll take it step by step. We’re going to enjoy the win, regroup as a team and be ready for the next challenge,” he said, according to the Six Nations website.
“It was a hard-fought win away from home, so it’s a big relief for the boys.
“Our defence was outstanding throughout the whole game, it showed our team spirit and character was there.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments