A historic victory
Last season, the French team was at full speed, and although the Tricolores had lost on the fourth day in Ireland, the Tournament was still a success. The latter had won in Italy (24-29), at home against Wales (41-28) and Scotland (32-21), but above all at Twickenham in England, with a score of 10 to 53!
Obviously, this victory is historic, and marks a record number of points scored by a French team on English soil! No less than seven tries were planted, and Fabien Galthié’s men avenged the 2019 affront, which saw the XV de la Rose win 44-8.
A year later, this success is still in everyone’s minds in England, and this big setback was not well received for one of Steve Borthwick’s firsts at the head of the XV de la Rose.
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A remarkable consistency
For this 2024 edition of the 6 Nations Tournament, the Crunch will take place in France, which is a considerable advantage for the gang in Galthié. Obviously, we will have to take into account the lessons of the last victory, in particular, because the team has not changed greatly.
Indeed, among the fifteen starting players this Saturday evening in Lyon, nine of them were in the game last year, with: Baille, Marchand, Flament, Cros, Alldritt, Ollivon, Fickou, Ramos and Penaud. On the English side, more than half of the team has been changed, and a good number of players are missing: Sinckler, Willis, Watson, Curry, Farrell, Arundell…
Among the lessons to take into account, the first tricolor side would be regularity! Last year, France did not slow down, and imposed its rhythm on the English from the start to the end of the match. Of the 53 points scored, 27 were in the first half, 26 in the second, with three and four tries planted in each.
Lately, the French XV has struggled to play complete matches, and has observed drops in level in certain phases of the match. The positive point for the French nevertheless remains the bench, and against Wales, they showed that they could reverse the outcome of the match. Last year against the English, Romain Taofifenua, Peato Mauvaka and Maxime Lucu were also very good during their return.
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Positioned at the back in the France team, Thomas Ramos will be at the opening in the absence of Matthieu Jalibert of Romain Ntamack. Considering his performance last weekend, this is not a problem, quite the contrary. Last year, the Toulouse player was also a starter, but in the deep field, and had one of his best performances in Blue.
Ramos scored 26 points, including a try, six conversions and two penalties. He only missed one attempt at the foot, at the end of the match, during Damian Penaud’s last French try.. He had competed with Freddie Steward under the high balls, which is no mean feat in itself! If the nearly 2m fullback is not renewed by Steve Borthwick this weekend, Léo Barré should still have his work cut out for him with Furbank, which will be a first real test in his international career.
Of possession
Obviously, to win a match with such a high point difference, you have to hold the ball a minimum. During the last confrontation, possession of the leather was French, as against the Welsh elsewhere. Faced with a defense that is certainly aggressive, but also sometimes permissive, the long phases of play could create gaps in certain fracture zones.
Once again, the importance of Thomas Ramos will be crucial, as much as that of Ntamack last year. The latter, who will be back at the end of March, was able to masterfully manage the phases of French possession, alternating out wide and close to the rucks.
The Flament/Meafou association had already combined well in Wales, and should allow Ramos and Le Garrec to position the game around their power.
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2024-03-14 21:14:08
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