At the Stade de France,

The sentence would have its place at the opening of a Goncourt.

“It was daylight, it was a Sunday.

The weather was nice, it was different.

Fabien Galthié remembers 20 years ago, his Grand Slam, when he was a player.

“It's nice to be able to touch this feeling again.

The difference is there, now it's them who play.

Before you are in the field, 20 years later you are in the stands.

»

The emotions are not the same, but are always intense if not perceptible at first glance.

The closed faces and the monotonous tone of the coach, accompanied by his captain Antoine Dupont in the conference after the victory against England, give the impression of an anecdotal victory, of those which we are delighted with but nothing more, before returning at home, sip chamomile and snore a good snore.

Only the still wet eyes of the Toulousain betray an intense emotion.

“Of course we are happy, swears Dupont.

These are incredible emotions that we feel.

Galthié sees in this curious discrepancy the expression of wear and tear.

“There is fatigue, that's for sure.

»

The Blues under tension

Because contrary to what the shameful level of play of the English in the first half and the premature test of Gaël Fickou foreshadowed, the pressure of the event ended up catching up with the French.

Even Maxime Lucu felt it when he entered at the very least three minutes from the end of the match and +12 points for the Blues.

“I felt a lot of tension, it was difficult to get rid of the English.

We felt that the breath was taken away in the stadium for the last five minutes.

Personally, I didn't want to come in and be the one to make the mistake that would revive England.

»

The English coach Eddie Jones regrets not having been able to enter the brains of the French for a long time, like that, for fun.

“The idea of ​​the grand slam in the last ten minutes [in the French heads], it would have been more interesting if we had been closer to the score.

»

tremble to learn

The English could have probably spoiled the party if France had not had the good idea to score tries when they needed it most.

First before the break, thanks to the miraculous arm of François Cros who came to reward a superb job by Romain Ntamack.

Then at the hour of play, when Antoine Dupont came to extinguish the fifteen minutes of madness of the XV de la rose with another little helping hand, that of the indescribable Gregory Alldritt.

A strength of character that Fabien Galthié is satisfied with.

“The English managed to get back to six points, that's what we've experienced in other big games.

We were on scenarios that resembled the matches against New Zealand, Ireland in Wales… We are used to these scenarios of maximum intensity.

»

Even if basically, the coach concedes to this “final” a particular character.

“Playing this match and this tension that rose above us, when we had prepared for the match in a climate of detachment, it proves that you have to live these final matches to continue to grow and acquire experience.

On Saturday, the XV of France therefore learned to tremble.

And win.

Sport

France – England 6 Nations: They did it!

The Blues beat the English and make the Grand Slam... Relive the match live...

  • 6 Nations

  • Sport

  • XV of France

  • Rugby

  • England

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