We had almost forgotten their flaws. Before this France-Argentina, won (29-20) by the XV of France, Saturday, November 6, on the occasion of the first test match of the autumn tour, the last outings of Fabien Galthié’s players and in particular the tour in Australia with a deeply reworked team, had given a glimpse of a collective mastery that we had not seen for a long time among the Blues. As fierce as they are suffocating in defense, as swirling as they are opportunistic in attack, the French had even managed to curb their indiscipline.
Against Argentina, the cogs of the machine squeaked damn. Not enough for the Blues to fall at home, but enough to remind all the lines of work to be refined in the days to come and to be tested against the Georgians (November 14) to hope to compete against the All Blacks (November 20).
It is an evil which the XV of the Galthié era has decidedly difficult to disentangle. Moreover, of the six defeats conceded by this group, five were in an almost identical scenario: the Blues lead a few minutes from the end, derail, chain bad decisions and fall. Above all, all of these defeats were marked by too many faults (14 penalties conceded in Australia, 16 against England, 15 against Scotland) and cards.
In the first half, we were a bit rushed. We also fell into their game of aggression, of talking, all that. Then we managed to correct the situation by focusing on ourselves.
Gabin Villiereto franceinfo: sport
Against Argentina, the Blues were sanctioned 13 times including 6 times in the first 25 minutes. This is too much when we know that the staffs hammer home that we must not exceed ten penalties per game to hope to win. The right pillar, Cyril Baille, had to bench ten minutes after receiving a yellow card (28th).
If the forwards recovered in the second half, surely recovered by their passage to the locker room, the first supported one of the rare weaknesses of the captain of the day and scrum-half, Antoine Dupont. Yes, the number 9 knew how to make his magic speak – we think of this revival along the touchline in duet with Damian Penaud and this cross with Matthieu Jalibert, both failing in the Argentine 10 meters – but he also has many times took a few steps back before sending sometimes hazardous passes, a little too measured to his teammates as he extricated the ball from a disputed ruck. In this period of confusion, we have seen him illustrate himself more as a soloist, without succeeding in taking his family without his wake.
Under these circumstances, it is difficult to judge the performance of the opening duo Jalibert-Ntamack, who were playing side by side for the first time. The Argentines took pleasure in cutting the passing lines to hinder the duo as much as possible and there were few occasions for clean exits before the exit of Romain Ntamack (54th), replaced by Jonathan Danty. We ask to see again.
This entry of Danty, next to that of Alldritt and Taofifenua, also marks one of the turning points of the match. “We had that option on our bench and we felt we needed to have more impact, more physics. We were sometimes roughed up in the fight. They were more present in the ground game and we decided to coach players to provide more solidity “, explained Fabien Galthié in a post-match conference. Because by aligning a third Cros-Jelonch-Woki line, by choosing to move Ntamack to the center alongside Gaël Fickou, the staff of the France team had bet on rather aerial and mobile profiles and chose to sacrifice a part power.
A physical deficit that has hurt for a long time. Less serene than usual in touch, dominated at impact, the Blues dropped a lot of balls. “If we make progress, it’s because they add intensity, it prevented us from concluding on our highlights […] The power deficit is not necessarily linked to a player. Perhaps a deficit of races, of intensity, of connections between the players. “
So to know: what about the changes, the fatigue that won the Argentine ranks or simply the best intentions of the Blues after the break, made the difference? What is certain is that these are all faults into which New Zealanders will not hesitate to rush into.