France has never won a rugby World Cup despite coming agonizingly close in the past. This is why next year’s World Cup on home soil is seen as the best chance to finally climb all the way to the summit of global rugby. As things stand, rugby fans would have to conclude that Les Bleus’ preparation has so far been clinical and impressive. The only concern one would have is that it may be happening too soon.
Indeed, Fabien Galthié’s men are currently the outright favorites to win the 2023 showpiece having been priced at 5/2 in the latest rugby union betting. This tells you that in their current form, there can be little doubt that the French are the most devastating team on the planet. But with 16 months to go, are Galthié’s men hitting their straps too soon? Either way, the point is that you can’t write off a team’s hopes of World Cup glory when they’re winning every week, as France is doing in the 2022 Six Nations.
That is obviously understood and a valid point, but how confident would France feel if the World Cup was beginning at the end of March 2022 and not in early September 2023? The timing perhaps has less to do with the winning tactics and formations eventually going stale but rather the current state of harmony that can be found in the French dressing room.
Whenever there is a prolonged state of unity in the French team, it does feel as if it is just the calm before the storm with controversy never too far away. You only need to go back to the 2019 World Cup when the players were urged to overthrow the coaches in a remarkable type of coup d'état on the eve of their quarter-final match against Wales at the World Cup in Japan, to understand that this has always been a team susceptible to imploding.
Indeed, player power within the dressing room has for far too long jeopardized France’s chances on the biggest stage, which means ultimately, supporters are always waiting nervously when there’s a lull in proceedings. But could this time be different? It has been suggested that improved discipline has been the reason for France’s upturn in results, which may indicate that Galthié has been able to get a hand on the issues that have plagued French rugby for many years.
Time will tell if the culture within the squad has changed for good, but the inescapable truth is that the whole team will still have to make a concerted effort to pull together over the remaining year and a half to make sure that they arrive at the Stade de France on the 8th of September 2023 in a positive frame of mind.