Win or lose, France need to commit to this trio moving forward
Who knew that when Olivier Magne came out with his criticism of the current generation of French players in the aftermath of Les Bleus’ loss to England at Twickenham, that Jacques Brunel would seemingly concur with that assessment?
The French head coach has rung the changes again this week, and whilst that it is not something unusual in French rugby, it has seen him turn to a number of fresh faces, or at least relatively new faces in new positions.
Teenage prodigy Romain Ntamack made his debut at inside centre against Wales in the Guinness Six Nations opener, before being relegated to the bench against England, and now he lines up at fly-half to take on Scotland in Paris this weekend.
He has been paired with club teammate Antoine Dupont in the half-backs, with the scrum-half proving to be one of the most consistent and influential players at his position over the last 18 months.
Completing the Toulouse triumvirate is Thomas Ramos, with the versatile full-back selected in the 15 jersey, ensuring that, on paper at least, France won’t be exposed at the back by a clever kicking game in the same way that they were at Twickenham.
There are still some unorthodox selections, including the persistence with Damian Penaud on the wing, despite the Clermont man being one of the best centres – ranked second overall on the RPI – in the Top 14, but Gaël Fickou is back in the midfield after a stint out wide and overall the back line feels much more balanced.
It’s unlikely that it was solely Magne’s comments that prompted this switch in selection philosophy, with Morgan Parra’s and Camille Lopez’s criticism of Brunel post-match at Twickenham unlikely doing them any favours. Both players have not only been dropped from the XV, but also the matchday squad, with Baptiste Serin and Anthony Belleau taking up duties on the bench.
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Watch: Brunel and Guirado face the press after the loss to England
Brunel has given the young Toulouse spine the opportunity to impress against Scotland and whilst far from the ideal situation to be thrown into, with France struggling and the home crowd far from enamoured with the team as stands, it’s an attempt to put an important foundation piece of the squad in place.
At just 22, 19 and 23 respectively, Dupont, Ntamack and Ramos have the best part of the next decade together at country and potentially club levels, which can help bring chemistry and cohesion to the French spine, something they often struggle with due in part to rotating selections, but also the lack of preparation time they have together as a group. By opting for the Toulouse trio, Brunel is hoping to minimise that disadvantage.
You don’t need to have a half-back pairing from the same club, with Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton and Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell performing excellently together, but those are combinations that have been years in the making. Throw in the mix the strong Leinster and Saracens cores to both those national sides and it’s hard to dispute that it’s not a contributary factor to their successes.
No one outside the Stade de France will be expecting miracles from the three Toulouse playmakers on Saturday but a loss or an unconvincing win over an admittedly injury-ravaged Scotland side should not push Brunel’s hand into making further changes. What France need now is consistency and to build the team around certain key individuals.
Jonny Wilkinson’s first two games at fly-half for England were a 76-0 loss to Australia in Brisbane and a 64-22 loss to New Zealand in Dunedin. Imagine if England had thrown Wilkinson to the lions by dropping him following those two games? How might the course of English rugby changed?
Instead, he backed it up with a strong showing in the 1999 Five Nations, including a 21-point effort against a France side boasting Romain’s father, Emile, and kickstarted an international career that would see him go on to win a Rugby World Cup and win 91 caps for England, as well as feature on two British and Irish Lions tours.
Similarly, Brunel needs to show faith in Dupont, Ntamack and Ramos if France are to truly build a side capable of consistently challenging the best teams in the world.
For that decision to move to the next generation of players to come six months out from a Rugby World Cup is unfortunate, but you can’t control when that next crop of players is going to come to the fore.
Ntamack has burst onto the scene over the last year and Ramos’ game has moved to a higher level during that same period. The only one of the three you can really argue should have been more heavily involved over the last couple of seasons is Dupont and in fairness to Brunel, it’s not as if French rugby has had a dearth of effective scrum-halves. Parra, Serin, Maxime Machenaud, Rory Kockott and Sébastien Bézy, French scrum-half stocks have been in fine fettle of late. That said, Dupont is currently the number one-ranked scrum-half in global rugby, according to the RPI.
To use the England example again, Sir Clive Woodward’s side struggled through 1999 RWC growing pains in order to have the success they did in 2003, and if it takes similar for France this year in Japan in order to move forward ahead of a home RWC in 2023, then they need to stay the path, win or lose, with this exciting new trio.
There are other factors for French rugby to address, such as the attritional nature of the Top 14 season, whether their domestic competition provides players with the conditioning needed to succeed at international level and what their coaching staff is going to look like after Japan, with Brunel seemingly on borrowed time no matter what now, but a consistency of selection is a solid start to navigating those dangerous waters.
Everyone in rugby yearns for a French side that can play with the menace and physicality up front and Gallic flair in the back line of yesteryear, and whilst it’s unlikely we’ll see that on Saturday, hopefully this is a watershed moment for French rugby and one which a foundation can be built upon moving forward.
Watch: Philippe Saint-André speaks to The Rugby Pod on France’s woes
Comments on RugbyPass
Should'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.
19 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.
19 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?
9 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.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to comments