Antoine Dupont -

Thibault Camus / AP / SIPA

At the Stade de France,

To win the 6 Nations tournament on Saturday night, France had to be immensely strong, or rely on a just average England in Italy.

Lack of pot, the Blues were "only" very good and the XV of the Rose did not put his own.

It was therefore stunned by the improved success of the English (34-5) at the end of the afternoon that we headed towards the Stade de France.

Which proves that in addition to not having the physical, we do not have the mental to play in the team of Fabien Galthié, much more determined when it comes to stuffing ourselves with the Irish.

7th minute: Gaël Fickou mystifies two Irishmen with pure winger support and shifts Antoine Dupont, definitely there in the right place, at the right time.

Test transformed by Ntamack.

7-0, bam!

We are pretty sure we felt the English tremble at home from our seat in the press gallery.

Well, the thing is, it didn't really last long.

The French retreated, held on, made mistakes, retreated again, did anything like the desperate gesture of Anthony Bouthier synonymous with a yellow card, resisted at 14 then ended up cracking in the 19th.

So one minute from the back on the field.

Beat penalties to scratch points

It's as stupid as it is admirable, after all.

Because the Irish have spent time, trying to cross that damn goal line.

Charles Ollivon: “We take a box quickly, so we tried to tighten the screw right away.

We tried to hold out for ten minutes.

We were super efficient.

I think we showed solidarity during those ten minutes, we stayed in the frame, we were always in it.

"

The frame was as always to put intensity, to get on the ball carrier very quickly and to tackle if possible correctly so as not to be dismantled by Shaun Edwards in the video debrief of the match.

With only one goal in mind: to put a rouste to the Irish to get the English off their pedestal.

It is also in this perspective that at 25-13, Ollivon chooses the three points rather than seeking the test at all costs.

Confidence was total at this point in the game.

“By taking the three points at 25-13 we wanted to get closer.

We knew that the four tries, we had time to put them in and we often took the three points precisely for the goal average, we had to take the points throughout the match, that was our strategy.

"

First tied, not second

At 28-13, the men of Galthié “only” 15 points to score (without taking any) to dislodge England.

The Irish give the impression of sticking their tongue out in front of the unbearable French pressure but do not break.

Well took them.

Impeccable in defense during the first ten minutes of the second half, the French helped their opponents to rebuild the icing with indiscipline and failed tackles - three on Henshaw's test in the 60th, just that.

And there there was nothing more to do.

The plan failed, but only halfway.

As the captain had expected, the test of the bonus ended up arriving (71st).

Medium.

It is like that, to lose little.

Failing to be able to brandish the trophy, one clings to one or two branches in bad faith so as not to fall into depression.

For example: France beat the best so she is the strongest.

Fabien Galthié, boomer: “We are satisfied because we ended up tied on points with England.

But we are also a little disappointed because in our time;

we would have won the tournament because it was the particular goal-average that prevailed.

But that has changed in the meantime.

"It should also be noted that in the semantics, the coach only half recognizes the English victory by qualifying his team as" first equal "with England which" wins the tournament on the goal-average ".

To have the bad defeat, yes, but always in finesse.

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