- A week after its success on England, the XV of France resisted Italy and the gusts of wind to prevail (35-22).
- The Blues have conceded three tries against the Squadra Azzura. Not sure Shaun Edwards, the defense coach, appreciated the big air gaps in defense. The debrief promises to be salty.
- One of the satisfactions of the afternoon comes from the entry into play of Baptiste Serin and Matthieu Jalibert, who gave themselves like crazy over the meager ten minutes they had to stand out.
At the Stade de France,
Not always solid on its supports. The XV of France resisted Italy and the gusts of wind to offer a second success in as many games in this tournament of the VI Nations 2020 (35-22). Confirmation awaited against the weakest opponent in the tournament after the exploit of the crunch, but, as in the test match last summer, the French still found a way to be scared for a good quarter of 'hour. They then pressed the accelerator to offer the offensive bonus. We will not forget these three conceded tests which are blemish.
The match in the match: Ntamack vs the wind
A little wink of history in Japanese autumn. Storm Ciara, passing through western Europe, brought us back a few months back to the time when typhoon Hagibis had deprived us of a much awaited France-England. This time, the Blues played, as best they could. And Romain Ntamack stumbled, somehow. Let things be clear, it is not a question of overwhelming the Toulousain (a little anyway) who often struck against the wind, whose gusts gave rise to rather unusual scenes, like the penalty came to die on the bar or this seemingly easy transformation miraculously passed at the end of the first period after hitting the two posts. Victory by K.-O. the wind.
From rush defense to relaxation
If last week against the English defense was in the spotlight, this week should consecrate the return of an offensive rugby, as we promised the players to Marcoussis a few days earlier. We certainly scratched an offensive bonus on a very nice essay by Romain Ntamack set in motion by a fluid collective movement, but we won't talk about fireworks anyway. Let us nonetheless pay tribute to the Italians, valiant in front of their line to the point of sometimes pushing back the beating shots of these golgoths that are Willemse and Le Roux, and effective in melee and in touch. Enough in any case to make us doubt in the middle of the first act and at the start of the second period. Not sure that Shaun Edwards appreciated the big air holes in defense and the three conceded tries. The debrief will be salty.
A bench still disappointing (except the hinge bis)
We have talked a lot about the contribution of the bench and we will surely talk about it again the next in view of entries from Poirot and Bamba, who once seemed to be playing at odds, not really in the rhythm required by the match at the time when they they have returned. This is for the negative part. The good news is that even if their entry was no longer useful, Baptiste Serin and Matthieu Jalibert gave themselves like crazy over the ten meager minutes they had to get noticed. The first one particularly regaled by offering a solo test on his first ball, or almost. And the second did not tremble at the posts. That was about all that was asked of him.
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