LONG READ France lack killer instinct of champions after dose of rugby ‘yips’

A prominent American college of medicine and science defines the ‘yips’ as “involuntary wrist spasms that occur most commonly when golfers are trying to putt”. However, advises the college, the yips also can affect people who play other sports.

Such as rugby. France went down with a severe case of the ‘yips’ on Saturday at Twickenham, although their defence coach, Shaun Edwards, had his own colourful word for their condition. “We got the dropsies, didn’t we?” reflected Edwards. “Every time we got near the tryline, we seemed to just drop the ball.

“I’ve never seen that happen before. The French lads are normally magnificent handlers of a rugby ball.”

Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Antoine Dupont, Damian Penaud and Peato Mauvaka all had a nasty dose of the ‘dropsies’, which was a blessing for England. Well as the hosts played in the final 15 minutes, a dropsie-free France would have been out of sight by the half-hour mark, looking to surpass the 53 points they scored against England in 2023.

In all, France committed 27 handling errors on a night Dupont described as ‘frustrating’. That’s an understatement. One wonders what coach Fabien Galthié said to his boys after the match. Publicly, he was stoicism personified. “We need more consistency in open spaces and maybe we didn’t need to score immediately but maybe wait for one more ruck,’ he told reporters. “It’s part of what we do, it’s part of the work that we do. We are an ambitious team; I think we demonstrated that again tonight.”

But ambition is nothing without execution, and France failed to execute time and again against England. This was undoubtedly France’s most demoralising defeat of Galthié’s reign. There have been a few other dark days, notably the 2023 World Cup quarter-final against South Africa. But as shattering as that 29-28 reverse was, France could point to a couple of crucial refereeing decisions that didn’t go their way, and the fact they were beaten by the defending world champions. In short, it wasn’t a defeat of their own making.

So what if since Galthié took command of France after the 2019 RWC their win ratio is 80 per cent? What have they got to show for it? The 2022 Grand Slam.

The same for their 32-19 loss to Ireland in the 2023 Six Nations, a defeat that terminated their 14-match winning run. France played well in Dublin that day, just not as well as an Irish side that went on to win the Grand Slam.

But Saturday’s defeat was different. So what if since Galthié took command of France after the 2019 RWC their win ratio is 80 per cent? What have they got to show for it? The 2022 Grand Slam. Of course, Saturday could be just a blip and if France beat Ireland in Dublin next month and go on to win the title, the England debacle will be written off as just a bad day at the office.

But what if France lose to Ireland and what if before that, on Sunday week in Rome, they come unstuck? Italy is unique in the Six Nations in that it’s the only country that doesn’t regard England as Public Enemy Number One. For the Azzurri, it’s France.

Italy have beaten France in Rome in 2011 and 2013, and last season they drew 13-13 in Lille. It would be a stretch to describe Italy as France’s Six Nations bogey team but the Italians always seem to raise their game for their Latin neighbours, the way Scotland do when they play England.

The captain of the defence, Fickou will shore up a defensive unit that missed 30 tackles against England.

France can comfort themselves with the thought that they have a couple of key players back for the Italy game, both of whom were sorely missed at Twickenham: Thibaud Flament in the second row and Gael Fickou in the centre. The men who deputised for them last Saturday both struggled: Alexandre Roumat is a loose forward not a second row, and it showed against England, while Pierre-Louis Barassi has not been able to reproduce for France the form he shows for Toulouse every week. He was exposed defensively against England, as was France’s fly-half Matthieu Jalibert.

Fickou, who has been sidelined with a thumb injury since the start of the year, is expected to start against Italy. The captain of the defence, Fickou will shore up a defensive unit that missed 30 tackles against England.

There is a concern, too, at tight-head prop, where Uini Atonio struggled in the set-piece, as did Georges-Henri Colombe, who replaced him with 24 minutes to go. Atonio, who turns 35 next month, retired after the 2023 RWC but was persuaded by Galthié to change his mind, an indication of how thin France are on the tight-head side of the scrum.

The letters page of Monday’s Midi Olympique raked over the coals of Saturday’s defeat. The word ‘dropsies’ wasn’t mentioned but there was plenty of criticism about the lack of pragmatism and precision, and the fact that when it really counts, France seem unable to handle the pressure. Something needs to change, suggested one correspondent, because it’s two years since the last RWC and two years until the next one, and France seem to be stuck in a rut.

The pressure is huge for every rugby nation but some players – particularly in the southern hemisphere – handle it better than others. France handle it worse than most.

The former French international Xavier Garbajosa was asked in the same newspaper why France seem to fluff their lines on the big occasion. Garbajosa, who played in the 1999 RWC final – one of three lost by France – put it down to psychological frailty. “The pressure is huge, intense,” he said. “It’s not an excuse but perhaps it can explain this type of defeat.”

The pressure is huge for every rugby nation but some players – particularly in the southern hemisphere – handle it better than others. France handle it worse than most.

On the eve of this year’s Six Nations Dupont said he and his team were “hungry” for a title, conscious that their trophy cabinet was still underpopulated. “An 80 per cent win rate when you don’t win a trophy doesn’t mean much,” he said.

It doesn’t. But what it does do is reinforce the impression among your rivals that you are missing the crucial component that every champion needs. As Thomas Ramos put it on Saturday night: “You have to know how to kill your opponent.”