At the Stade de France,
Sacred first. Fabien Galthié's XV de France new look could not have launched this new era better, with an exciting victory against England (24-17) on the first day of the VI Nations Tournament on Sunday. There was a lot of envy, almost excitement, before finding out how it would open. Galthié sold it well, with his speeches on play, cohesion and young talents. It remained to pass the test of fire, this first game at home against the vice-world champion, a real machine to crush his opponents. And the little Blues were up to the task.
"We worked to be there for 80 minutes, not 40"
“We showed a great state of mind, appreciates the center Gaël Fickou, one of the alumni at the top of his 25 years and 51 selections. We all defended like dogs, until the end, after this first period when we were beyond reproach. Hard to prove him wrong. The French, who might have been thought paralyzed, on the contrary marched on the English from the start. 17-0 at break, 24-0 at 55th thanks to three tries by Vincent Rattez and Charles Ollivon. The British had not experienced such an affront since 1988.
Admittedly, the barricades then jumped twice, on two individual exploits of the winger Jonny May. But it will be remembered that the French have resisted like opponents on the assault during the last fifteen unbreathable minutes, where they had so often drowned in recent years - remember the first match of the 2019 Tournament, where they led 16-0 at the break against Wales to finally bow 19-23. “We worked to be there for 80 minutes, not 40, explains Paul Willemse. The training was tough, but we knew why. "
🏉 The best moments of the first period between France 🇫🇷 and England 🏴 # 6nations #FRAvENG
Find the full summary of this match on the following link ▶ https://t.co/dU6Q3SqKxh pic.twitter.com/YEvGVgDYbC
Consistency over an entire match, a disciplined and (almost) impassable defense - 183 successful tackles out of 192! -, if we had a teasing spirit, it looks like we didn't recognize our French team. “There was a lot of fun in this battle, notes Ollivon. I feel that we are creating something. It's a great team, there are good guys and when you appreciate the guys next door, it makes a huge difference. "
Nice declaration of love from the captain. The foundations are laid, but this victory is only a promise. We will wait to see how it goes for the Blues against Italy next weekend, and then especially in Cardiff against the Welsh, to start to get a real idea of what this team has in the belly. But damn it, we can't wait and we haven't felt that for a while with the XV of France.
Sport
XV of France: Ntamack, Jalibert, Carbonel ... Only numbers 10 in the future team of Galthié?
- Rugby
- Sport
- 6 Nations
- England
- XV of France