A year and a half before the World Cup at home, the Blues, second in 2020 then in 2021, are aiming for their sixth coronation in the Tournament since the enlargement to six nations in 2000 and their first since 2010.

Twelve years later, Antoine Dupont's teammates are therefore only 80 minutes from the Grail.

They may not even need to wait until 9:00 p.m. to celebrate with their supporters if Scotland do them a favor by winning in Dublin ahead of Ireland (5:45 p.m.), the last team to be able to deprive the Blues of the title.

But only the Grand Slam counts in the eyes of the French, who had made it their objective at the start of the campaign.

"We are where we wanted to be. But we have to remain humble, stay in our place, there is a game to play. We have done everything to be in this position", recalled the coach.

Six Nations Tournament: France vs England Vincent LEFAI AFP

Exploits

Since Galthié's arrival on the French bench, his proteges, now third in the world in the World Rugby rankings, have had a string of big hits: first victories in ten years in Cardiff (27-23 in February 2020) then in Dublin (15-13 in February 2021);

first success in Australia since 1990 (28-26 in July 2021);

triumph in front of the All Blacks (40-25 in November 2021)... They are therefore only missing a title.

The coach of the XV of France Fabien Galthié, on the eve of the match of the Six Nations Tournament against Ireland, on February 11, 2022 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis FRANCK FIFE AFP

This time, the final boss is English.

As in 2004 or 2010. Except that the XV de la Rose, already excluded from the fight for the final victory, remains on two successes in a row against these Blues: 22-19 after extra time in the Cup final autumn of nations in December 2020 then 23-20 in the Tournament a few months later.

In the last nine Franco-English confrontations, only once has the away team won: in 2016, England won 31-21 in Paris.

Since then, the Blues have won their last two home matches against this same England team.

The opening half of the XV of France, Romain Ntamack, scores a try against the All Blacks, during their last match of the Autumn Tour, on November 20, 2021 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP /Archives

Faced with the XV de la Rose which may seem well faded after two setbacks in the 2022 Tournament (20-17 against Scotland, 32-15 against Ireland), the French have everything to gain.

"Learned from our mistakes"

But Eddie Jones' men, carried by the tireless second line Maro Itoje and the talented young opener Marcus Smith, set out to spoil the French party.

Australia's England XV coach Eddie Jones chats with fly half Marcus Smith ahead of the Autumn Tour match against Australia on November 13, 2021 at Twickenham Stadium in London Glyn KIRK AFP/ Archives

To bury the tricolor hopes, they will therefore have to go through the Stade de France, where the Blues of Galthié have lost only once since the end of the World Cup-2019.

It was last year, against Scotland (27-23), a decisive match for the title.

Already.

"Now we have played twenty-four matches together, we are heading towards our twenty-fifth, our third Tournament, with a lot of experience. These players have collective experience now, they have grown over the past two years", promised Galthié.

"Our defeats taught us, our second places in the competition taught us a lot," added the former scrum-half, "Chelemard" in 1997, 1998 and 2002.

To revive past joys and join the pantheon of French rugby their coach but also the manager Raphaël Ibanez and the forwards coach William Servat or even Émile Ntamack, Fabien Pelous, Olivier Magne, Guy Cambérabéro, Serge Blanco, Jacques Fouroux, Jean- Pierre Rives, Mathieu Bastareaud, Jo Maso, Abdelatif Benazzi, Pierre Berbizier... the Blues of 2022 know what they have to do.

The coach of the XV of France, Fabien Galthié, addresses his players, on October 30, 2021 at the national center of rugby in Marcoussis Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

In addition to the Grand Slam, the French can climb to second place in the world, the best ranking in their history.

A year and a half before the Mondial-2023 at home, it would be welcome.

© 2022 AFP