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Guilhem Guirado scored two first-period tries against the Fijians on November 24, 2018. FRANCK FIFE / AFP

In nine confrontations, the Fijians had never beaten the French. Saturday, November 24, at a Stade de France far from having filled up, they allowed themselves to give a rugby lesson to a XV of France draft and lack of inspiration. France lost for the first time in its history against Fiji (14-21).

A year ago, the tricolores thought to make an easy match against Japan (23-23) . But they were dominated by the 11th world nation at the time after a series of eight games without a win.

" I hope that, after all that we went through, we will not take this game lightly, " said the captain of the team of France Guilhem Guirado, on the eve of this latest confrontation of the autumn tour against Fiji. Since 2007, the Blues have won only once the last game of the year: in 2012 against Samoa.

A Stade de France that sounds hollow

This Saturday night, the men of Jacques Brunel also had to fill the void of the Stade de France with more than half of the empty stands ... Barely 42 000 people had made the trip. The north of Paris can accommodate up to 80,000 spectators, as was the case in the match of the tournament of the six nations 2010 - year of the French title in the event - against England.

And this is not the beginning of the game complicated for the Blues that will make some people regret not having had the desire to meet again on a Saturday night at the Stade de France. The Blues, beaten by South Africa (29-26) and winners of Argentina (28-13) this fall, only took the lead at the very end of the first period, thanks to the second try of captain Guilhem Guirado (25, 40 + 5). The Fijians also registered two tries, by Semi Radradra (20, 0-7) and Josua Tuisova (31, 7-12).

At the break, the XV of France, very rough, led a short header at halftime (14-12). But the clumsiness of the XV of France will have been glaring. " They were brighter, faster than us, " commented Jacques Brunel on France 2 before the start of the second period without forgetting to point a very porous French defense. In the second half, the Blues were far from finding the French flair that has long characterized them.

After the victory against Argentina a week ago, the Blues should have surfed the wave. And without the two attempts refused to the Fijians, the bill could have been more salty. " We did not know how to measure up. Once again, we need to question ourselves. The commitment and the preparation of each one, "said Jacques Brunel at the end of the match as Mathieu Bastareaud said he was" ashamed of this performance ".

Argentina leaves empty-handed

Argentina ended its long season with a third defeat in three games during its November tour in Europe, beaten Saturday by Scotland in Edinburgh (14-9) in a dull match. It is time for 2018 to end for the Pumas, whose vast majority of players are on the bridge since mid-February and the start of the Super Rugby season for the Jaguars. Including their star opener Nicolas Sanchez who, before joining the Stade Français, had three failures in the exercise of penalties on the heavy weight in the final balance. One, at the start of the second period with a score of 6-6 (49), would have allowed his team to go ahead to consider a first win after four defeats, including two in November, in Ireland ( 28-17) then in France (28-13).