a victory and relief, but stubborn shortcomings in this XV of France

The XV of France won in the last minutes of its match in Scotland (20-16), Saturday afternoon. But the victory scenario does not hide the limits encountered by the Blues during the majority of the match.

“It’s one of my greatest victories with the XV of France”. Winners (20-16) in the last minutes of Scotland, the Blues narrowly escaped defeat on Saturday February 10. A few minutes after the final whistle and a crazy end to the match, it was time to smile for Grégory Alldritt. To the point of definitively putting the post-World Cup bad patch behind them and launching this Six Nations Tournament for good?

According to Fabien Galthié, reluctant to discuss errors and mistakes, his Blues even delivered a full match on the pitch at Murrayfield. “The content, when you win in Scotland, by four points, that suits mehe kicked in, when asked about the subject at a press conference. Given the level of Scotland, that suits me. Given the context, that suits me. It’s perfect”added the French coach, who only wants to remember the victory.

The victory of the Blues, magnified by the scenario and the atmosphere, certainly comes with its share of satisfactions, from the formidable attempt of Louis Bielle-Biarrey to save his family and get back on track, to the promising entry of Nolann Le Garrec for the last half -hour of play. But it should not erase the very difficult first 70 minutes of the French XV – and even its relaxation at the very end of the match -, clearly dominated and far from the blow.

A touch and a discipline that still leaves regrets

The French have long shown in several sectors the same limits as against Ireland a week ago. On the sidelines, while the return among the starters of specialist Cameron Woki was to strengthen it, the Blues struggled. At the edge of the pitch, the French alignment lost two touches (on 10 throws), and poorly negotiated several others (25th, 42nd) which led to ball losses and dangerous situations for Scotland in the French half of the field. The Scots, for their part, waited until the 47th minute to lose the first of their two balls on their 14 shots.

The Blues have not corrected their discipline problem either. In a complicated first period, they were sanctioned seven times (compared to two on the Scottish side), far from international requirements, until Uini Atonio was yellow carded for a bad tackle and an offside position. They certainly raised the bar in the second period (two penalties), but after this second match, they have already conceded three cards, as many as in the entire 2023 edition.

The Jalibert-Lucu hinge still battered

Symbol of the lack of French control: the Matthieu Jalibert-Maxime Lucu hinge. As against the Irish, it did not weigh. Targeted by the Scots for his difficulties on high balls, the flyhalf is the French player who made the most mistakes (four turnovers and two penalties conceded). His friend from UBB, Maxime Lucu, erased, suffered from the contrast with the performance of the incoming Nolann Le Garrec, passer on the decisive try from Louis Bielle-Biarrey.

In the wake of the turning point, the game offered by the XV of France on its last two outings, marked by a lack of creativity and madness, continues to raise questions. The long sequences of ping-pong rugby in Edinburgh did nothing to help, raising many questions in the mixed zone about the group’s adaptation to the new staff. Without clear-cut answers.

Charles Ollivon, who ended up captain after the injury of Grégory Alldritt, admitted to the media that the victory did not erase the many things “still to work”. “We made mistakes in Marseille, we made them again today, differently […] We’re going to stay in our place, we’re going to work and try to go even further, to resolve what we need to resolve to make more complete matches.”he clarified.

The Blues will be able to carry out this work over the next two weeks, before their meeting against Italy on February 25. A nation which presents, on paper, the weakest opposition of the teams in the Tournament, the Squadra Azzurra is perhaps the ideal opponent to achieve a first full match in 2024. But be careful, last year, during the first match of the 2023 Tournament, the Blues were penalized 18 times against the Transalpins to only win 29-24.