Winners by a short header against the Italians, the French showed a lot of indiscipline on the lawn of the Stadio Olimpico. The axis of progress has been clearly identified by the players and the staff.
“From the match, we especially remember this indiscipline. We started with a few small faults, then we fell into them.” The conclusion is relentless. Anthony Jelonch, the game’s best tackler (20 successful tackles for a single penalty conceded), goes straight for the goal in the mixed zone, after the narrow victory (24-29) against Italy, Sunday February 5. Like all observers, the third-line tricolor had almost only one word in his mouth when analyzing the meeting: the indiscipline of the Blues.
A penalty try, a yellow card and eighteen penalties conceded… The Roman statistics are impressive, and attract as much attention as the final result. On the lawn of the Stadio Olimpico, Sunday, the Blues almost punished themselves because of their indiscipline. A weakness which would be paid more heavily in Dublin, Saturday February 11, against Ireland which benefited from 15 penalties in Wales, a former benchmark in this sector.
“We will have to rectify the situation”
“This is the big question mark: where does this indiscipline come from”wonders Dimitri Yachvili, consultant France Télévisions. “It may be a surplus of aggressiveness, it may be linked to the fact that we defended quite a bit… Anyway, it’s an area of play that we have need to work, one of our rare weak points”he continues.
A black point stigmatized by the players, from the final whistle. “We were undisciplined, we know very well that it is not playable at this level. We will have to rectify the situation”dropped captain Antoine Dupont bluntly at the microphone of France Télévisions just after the final whistle. “Of course it’s dangerous, 18 penalties, it’s each time a possession for the opponent and you go back. We’ve gone back a lot. And when you don’t go back, it costs you three points”analyzed Fabien Galthié at a press conference.
MEven the neophyte Ethan Dumortier admitted, between the analysis of his big first and the praises to the opponent of the day, that the Blues have “given too many points” because of their “too many mistakes”. “That’s how we revived the Italians each time, and that’s a shame,” still regretted Anthony Jelonch. To stay at the top, the Blues can no longer afford to give so many points. Last season, in the conquest of the Grand Slam, they had the second best record in terms of conceded penalties (47, only the Italians did better with 46), and had never conceded more than nine penalties per match, except against the Italy (14).
Working with referees
In the press conference, all the analyzes came back to the same end point, indiscipline, including that of Fabien Galthié: “This is the major problem of this match, and the clear axis of progress identified by all of us”. The coach expects better communication with the referees, so that his players better understand the limits set by the men at the whistle. “We can quickly rectify the situation by discussing with the future refereeing body in Ireland, understanding how Mr. Barnes wants the game to go”says the coach.
Ethan Dumortier also addressed the issue of referee appreciation and judgment. “It’s true that the refereeing has sometimes been a bit inconsistent, that may be one of the explanations. But you shouldn’t hide behind that”relativizes Dimitri Yachvili. Because against the world numbers, this kind of gap will be, this time, unforgivable.