five things to know about the clash between the Blues and the Pumas

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Let’s say it right away, France-Argentina rarely appear in rugby anthologies. The clashes between these Latins from the two hemispheres smell more of sulfur than of rose. For a long time, the Gauchos were even one of the pet peeves of tricolor rugby who stumbled with extreme meticulousness on the no-play offered by these hard-core Argentines. Saturday November 6 at the Stade de France (9 p.m. live on France 2 and france.tv), and for the first match of the Autumn Nations Cup, we should not expect anything else from the trained men by Mario Ledesma. Labor and sweat. Those of Fabien Galthié know the music but this time they seem to have enough class and confidence to lead the dance. Here are the five things to know about this frenzied tango.

Pumas with threadbare fangs?

Jean-Baptiste Lafond and his famous sense of the formula said to Rugbyrama: “The Argentines arrive cooked and in flip-flops”. The former back-winger of the Blues sums up, quite bluntly, a feeling shared by many: the Pumas land in Saint-Denis at the end of the race. THEhe international calendar did not give any gift to the Ciel et Blancs who chained Rugby Championship 2020, followed by the European season with in particular the many internationals who play in the Top 14, test matches of July 2021 and Rugby Championship 2021, concluded with six defeats in as many matches. Rinsed, wrung out, have Pumas become harmless kittens?

It would be bad to know the animal. A bit like this journalist who, a distant day, had decreed that the feline represented on the Argentinian jersey was a puma when it was a jaguar. That’s it for the little story. The big one remembers that Argentina has often scratched the Blues. The worst injury goes back of course to 2007 when the South Americans had twice beaten the Habs at the World Cup in France, first in the opening match, then in the final for 3rd place. If the Rooster has since raised its head, it continues to regularly lose feathers in the face of the feline.

Ntamack-Jalibert, associated rival jewels

Usually competitors at the post of opener, Romain Ntamack and Matthieu Jalibert will be able to join forces, the first sliding to a post of center. A bit like a Beauden Barrett with the All Blacks, the Toulouse player gives way to a pure number 10 and retreats a notch on the ground where his qualities of reading and percussion could just as well flourish. . Still, the bet is daring for the alchemist Galthié, especially against Argentines who will inevitably test the cogs of this experimental hinge. To the credit of the Blues, the latter had 15 days in Marcoussis to add oil when the Pumas only have a week of preparation in their hands …

Dupont, more galls

In the absence of Charles Ollivon, the usual and indisputable captain but on the flank due to a knee injury, the management had the choice between Fickou, Jelonch, Marchand, Alldritt and Dupont to take up the torch. And it is almost quite naturally that he appointed the last named. “It is not necessarily someone who talks a lot, observes Brice Dulin at a press conference. But given his attitudes, his way of training, he is very serious, it is indisputable. His way of leading the group naturally will win out, so it might be easier for him to be himself, without forcing things.

Already presented as one of the best players on the planet, Antoine Dupont transforms everything he touches into gold with a disarming naturalness, without ever seeming to force things. Will the blue Midas do the same with the captain’s armband?

Argentina, where is your magic?

If the Pumas have rarely been recognized for the brilliance of their game, they have always hatched some nuggets capable, on a flash of genius, of rocking a match (any coincidence with football and Lionel Messi is purely coincidental). However, in recent years, the source has dried up and there is no longer “El Mago” (the magician) Juan Martin Hernandez or “The little Napoleon” Augustin Pichot to stand on end.

But, failing to find genius creators there, the Top 14 continues to draw cheerfully from the Argentinian pampas to fertilize its fields thanks to players with the profile of plowmen. They will be eight on Saturday evening at the Stade de France to face their usual club teammates at kick-off:he pillar Francisco Gomez Kodela (Lyon), the second lines Guido Petti (Bordeaux-Bègles) and Tomas Lavanini (Clermont), the third lines Marcos Kremer (Stade Français) and Facundo Isa (Toulon), the scrum half Tomas Cubelli, the center Jeronimo de la Fuente (Perpignan) and winger Bautista Delguy (Perpignan). Facundo Bosch (La Rochelle), Lucas Paulos (Brive) and Nicolas Sanchez (Stade Français) will start on the bench.

Jaminet and Flament, the blue is coming out of the ranks

With an average age of 25 years for 17 selections, the Blues live up to their name. Among the new ones, the UFO Thibaud Flament, passed among others by Belgium, Asia, England and … Argentina, will be particularly scrutinized. “It has always been inhabited by this flame”, decrypted his coach at a press conference with a touch of sentimentality: “He fell asleep every night with the poster of the France team hanging from his ceiling and his last glance went to the tricolor jersey”. The wait, and the pressure, will be the same for Melvyn Jaminet, very convincing during the summer tour in Australia, and who, at 22, will have to prove himself in a crucial double job of back-scorer.

A great performance from these two players could open the airlock against Georgia on November 14, or even the royal road against New Zealand, a week later. And two years before the World Cup in France. But if the ardor of youth is appreciable, the Blues could, also, need the reinforcement of the experience. Especially to conclude their match, an area where they have often fished in the recent past. It is with this in mind that Fabien Galtié has beefed up his bench, loaded to the mouth of “finishers” and other “impact players”, Grégory Alldritt in the lead. So that, this time, the XV of France does not remain on its end.


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