A week after his impressive victory in England, the XV of France faces that of the leek on Saturday at the Stade de France. The men of Fabien Garthié keep a tiny chance of keeping their title.
by Clément Martel
After ransacking the English temple of rugby, the Blues return to the house. A week after his impressive victory in Twickenham (53-10), the XV of France concludes, Saturday March 18, the 2023 edition of the Six Nations Tournament against Wales (3:45 p.m., to follow live on the world .Fr). A last spring outing before the summer preparation matches. And, above all, a final gallop of testing on the lawn of the Stade de France before starting “his” World Cup at home in early September, facing the formidable New Zealand.
At the end of the “fifth round of this tournament”, as Raphaël Ibañez, manager of the Blues turned, the French still aspire to raise their arms. But their defeat in Ireland, in the second match (19-32) and the hitherto immaculate course of the XV of the clover makes them cling to the hope of a start of English pride in Dublin, to hope to keep their title. “We have a tournament to finish well and again a hand on the trophy, even if it does not depend on us, said this week Laurent Labit, the coach of the tricolor attack. It is a great pleasure to find Our audience and we want to stay on our dynamics. “
The message was hammered at the teammates of Antoine Dupont, as soon as they leave the Eurostar, the day after the crunch: station not to focus too much on Ireland, rival at a distance for the coronation, at the risk of ‘forget the XV of the leek. “We must not go wrong with an opponent and beat the country of Wales. We want to focus on our destiny, the rest does not belong to us,” insisted Fabien Garthié, Thursday.
The coach did not forget this time when his troops were lost in the calculations. In conclusion of the Six Nations 2021 tournament – where a very wide successful success would have saved the tournament -, Scotland had left victorious from the Stade de France, while the Blues had nevertheless won. “We tried to seek more than the victory and we ended up with a lost match,” summarized the third line Grégory Alldritt. To want to do too much … An unfinished partition that the XV of France, which has since produced the Grand Slam and beaten all the major nations of world rugby, does not want to interpret again.
“This team has long martyred the XV of France “
Especially in front of this Wales. Winners in Italy, last weekend, the teammates of Captain Ken Owens, failing to convince, pushed the spectrum of the wooden spoon – which “rewards” the team having lost all its meetings of the tournament. The fact remains that the Welshmen remain stuck in extra-sports concerns: the professional future of Several executives remaining uncertain , a few weeks after the players threatened to strike upstream of the match against the ‘ England.