France XV easily disposed of Wales 38-21 -
Dave Winter / Shutterstock / SIPA
At the Stade de France,
The advantage when you win a big match is that friendly or not, you know the team is on the right track.
Of course, Wales is the seventh nation in the world just behind the XV of France, but twice in a row beating a team that has done very little for the French until elimination in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Japan can not to be seen as trivial.
It is even a coup in three stripes: Galthié's men got back on the right path after the Scottish disappointment of March, took a step forward by outclassing a respectable team and sent a message to Ireland, which will move to Paris next week for the "final" of the Tournament.
Obviously, Fabien Galthié says he is "satisfied", as well as the few players who expressed themselves after the success of Saturday, but without ever making money.
Vincent Rattez thus speaks of an “encouraging match” when the college of journalists was completely hyped by the level of play offered on the lawn of the Stade de France.
It is also curious to see how things have changed.
During the World Cup, when the press lambasted the shortcomings of the team, we were criticized for looking for the little beast.
And now that it is fueled, we calm our ardor at the first fire.
Too many penalties
It is quite true that we have not won anything yet and that it is quite possible that we will stay at the same point next weekend.
But to win by 17 pawns against a nation of Tier 1 at the end of a match where the guys found themselves with their eyes closed despite only one practice on the field this week, that leaves an incredible margin.
"Of course we did not have a lot of time in the field to prepare for the matches, but we made videos to review the system", again tempers François Cros.
Damn modesty of the winner.
We recover, we take a deep breath and we try to put ourselves in the place of Fabien Galthié's glasses.
What did they see that justifies this relativism?
The first answer is easy, provided you have not missed the first quarter of an hour of the match where the Blues, completely stunned, conceded a try in the first minute and were led by ten points by guys thirsty for revenge.
"This atmosphere in the stadium [without supporters] may have generated the start of a match or rather of a non-match," theorizes the Toulouse third line.
Gaël Fickou agrees: “it's true that it feels weird… We started off very badly, and that should not be done against Ireland.
"
Despite the victory obtained 38 to 21 against Wales, Gaël Fickou pointed out after this match the faults committed on the ground by the tricolor clan who will not forgive for him against Ireland #FRAGAL #NeFaisonsXV pic.twitter.com/002hP8SI0H
- France tv sport (@francetvsport) October 24, 2020
Since we are on the axes of improvement before the most important match of 2020, let's talk about the other annoying subject, that of indiscipline.
16 penalties conceded to four for the Blues, it's immense.
“Incredible at this level,” said Fabien Galthié.
“It also gave us a finger on what we could improve at the international level.
"" We had a little trouble adapting to refereeing, confirms captain Charles Ollivon.
I have regrets about this match.
We will try to be more attentive to the referee, we will try to correct that.
Better, yes.
Because the Irish will not necessarily let slip eight points in ten minutes like Dan Biggar, which we are still trying to understand how he was able to liquefy against the poles after a good start against the XV of France.
Confidence in the game plan and hinge on fire
All that is all well and good, but we will not be deprived of the fact that the Irish have at least a little bit of trouble before arriving at home and that these breaches in the game of the French will be very difficult to exploit.
Because before attacking, it is still necessary to be able to ensure its rear.
What can happen to guys who can slap a reputedly extremely strong team defensively?
“The hinge is very, very good,” Fabien Galthié is satisfied.
If Dupont and Ntamack - 100% at the foot - confirm at this level, in a week, we do not really see what could prevent the Blues from delivering a new offensive festival.
Especially since the complicity and the automatisms can only improve with the training during the gathering.
Finally, the fact of having to overcome a delicate situation to finish in apotheosis says a lot about the progress of a team whose inability to last more than 40 minutes at a very high level was barely regretted a year earlier.
These players know not to be overwhelmed.
"There's not a guy who panicked," applauds the captain.
“It shows the strength of character in this group, continues Vincent Rattez.
We are pretty sure of our strengths, we know that in 80 minutes, if we stick to our game plan and we are all 100% we can turn the tide and win.
"
The importance of the sacrosanct framework of which the coach quickly spoke.
"We try to put cohesion there with and without the ball, to control our energy to know when to carry the ball, when to get rid of the ball.
[…] But there is a little frustration.
We couldn't use everything we wanted, and then there are a few options that we didn't take out.
But so much the better, that we use it later.
In a week, for example?
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