The French XV launches the final part of its Six Nations Tournament on Sunday in Wales, without having the slightest hope of winning the competition.
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A defeat, a victory, a draw, and it’s already time for the final sprint. After a week’s break, the French XV moved to the final part of its 2024 Six Nations Tournament, which begins with a pressure-filled trip to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Sunday March 10 (at 4 p.m. on France 2 and France. TV). After an eventful start to the competition, and while they remain in a disappointing draw against Italy (13-13), the Blues are waiting above all to find momentum and success on the field.
Since the start of the Tournament, they have never been able to rely on the often effective and sometimes even flamboyant game which brought them to the Grand Slam in 2022 and to a great year 2023. “We have to find the keys and, against Italy, the bunch was empty, we didn’t find a solutioninsists Dimitri Yachvili, former international and France Télévisions consultant. There is a problem somewhere and only they can know where it is. I hope they find the right words and make the right decisions for the commando match in Cardiff.”
“We want to play better”
“We have to do better than against Ireland [défaite 38-17] ! We want to play better.”affirmed for his part Shaun Edwards, the defense coach of the Blues, to AFP. “We are going to give everything we have for this team”also assured the novice Emmanuel Meafou, who will experience his first selection in the second row in Cardiff. “We all need to raise our level of play, to question ourselves to be better”launched Gaël Fickou at a press conference.
If the Blues still believed in the final victory before the match against Italy, the dreams of coronation are now gone, to give way to more down-to-earth ambitions. “There, we have to finish with two victories to save what remains to be saved, the honor of the jersey”asserts Dimitri Yachvili. “I hope they will finish this Tournament strong, in the best possible way, with two great victories achieved. I know they are capable of it”assured the absent Antoine Dupont from Vancouver (Canada), where he played his first 7-a-side tournament when his usual teammates were battling against the Squadra Azzurra.
A Crunch to save the balance sheet at home
In the boxes to be checked for this end of the Tournament, the XV of France will also want to improve its record at home. For the moment, Fabien Galthié’s men have won their only victory away from home, in Scotland, and present at home a meager record of a defeat (without bonus) and a draw. Enough to touch on a situation never before reached, sinceince the transition to six nations, in 2000, the French have always achieved at least one victory on their lawn.
Avoiding zero points at home will therefore require success against England in Lyon on the final day. At Groupama Stadium, where the Blues annihilated Italy (60-7) during the last group match of the World Cup, Fabien Galthié’s men could aim for a symbolic victory with a necessarily special taste against their best enemies. The Blues have not lost at home in the Tournament against the XV de la Rose since 2016.