Bordeaux (AFP)

He crowned South Africa in 1995, England in 2003 after memorable extensions, made Jannie De Beer go down in history and still serves as a figurehead for Pierre Albaladejo.

However, statistically, the drop-goal is no longer too popular in today's rugby.

Which player, even an amateur, has not dreamed of one day imitating Joel Stransky or Jonny Wilkinson to conquer the world, has not jealoused Jannie De Beer, author of five drops to kick the English out of the 1999 World Cup (44- 21).

"The drop is a state of mind," suggests Christophe Lamaison, who was inspired by the Springbok striker a week later at Twickenham to launch, via two close drops, the most improbable comeback of the history of the competition against the All Blacks (43-31).

"Attempting a penalty requires less pressure, prolong + Titou + Lamaison. When it is a drop, it is in the course of the game with an opponent who goes up to counter you. There is a preparation to be in optimal conditions, a lot of parameters which mean that if they are not all positive, it becomes more complicated ".

- "Noble gesture" -

In his sofa in Dacquois, Pierre Albaladejo, nicknamed "Mister Drop" by the Anglo-Saxons both for his three drops against Ireland in 1960 (the drop was worth as much as a try at the time, that is to say - say 3 points) that by the difficulty to pronounce his name correctly in the language of Shakespeare, wriggles when he sees "an opener impeccably placed in an area of ​​the field".

"But try the drop! I tell myself three, four or five times per game and they never come", laments the former opener of the Blues (30 caps).

"Everything is being done today to get as close as possible to the opposing line in order to get the 7 points. It's mathematical and psychological, we are in accounting and in business. Things have changed a lot", laughs "Bala", 87 years old.

The statistics are formal.

Mid-season in Top 14, there are nine successful drops (for 32 attempted) including four for the only Parisian Joris Segonds, a sort of ambassador "of a noble gesture which concretizes a positive action while often avoiding tiring his partners "as Benjamin Boyet likes to describe it, the former international opener (5 sel.) now a consultant on BeIn Sports.

"There is a strong decline for this technical gesture in modern rugby", regrets the latter.

"It is completely forgotten, neglected and sometimes used by default, especially in the regular season where we prefer to carry the ball and go to the opponent's fault to recover a penalty or a trial opportunity. Before, we tried it when we were had penalty pending, no longer today ".

- While waiting for the final stages -

The former Berjallian, for whom "you have to have strong shoulders to try a drop", recognizes "that we may associate it with slow rugby while today the numbers 10 are much more ambitious offensively. We see it with the Jalibert, Ntamack and Carbonel, kids who want to go to the maximum of the offensive intensity by carrying the ball ".

"But Matthieu Jalibert is able to pass drops (one against Scotland during the Autumn Nations Cup), cut Frédéric Charrier, his trainer at UBB, who thinks that the introduction of the offensive bonus, with this quest for a number of tests defined in the 2000s, reduced the influence of the drop.

"It's a gesture of instinct which remains a formidable weapon, continues the Girondin technician. A player like Wilkinson had this ability to drop at important times and psychologically, it puts pressure on the opponent."

For all these witnesses, the drop is not intended to disappear and will even regain its letters of nobility during the final stages or high-stakes matches.

"When the teams are mobilized on the discipline, very tight and ready to fight on the advantage line", lists Charrier, "when there is more pressure, you have to score quickly and a lot, strangely the drop regains its interest, ”Lamaison concludes with mischief.

© 2021 AFP