It took a long time to take shape, but the Blues ended up winning the victory (37-10) and the offensive bonus against Italy for their entry into the running in the Six Nations Tournament, Sunday February 6. After the meeting, the captain of the XV of France, Antoine Dupont and the tricolor manager Raphaël Ibanotez came back, in a press conference, on this meeting before projecting themselves on the next one: the clash against Ireland (February 12, 5:45 p.m.).
Franceinfo:sport: What do you remember from this result and this success against an eye-catching Italian team? Was there a strategic error at the start of the match and any adjustments?
Raphael Ibanotez: To start this tournament, it’s a satisfying victory with five tries and five points. You have to know how to savor the moment. Our first twenty minutes of the encounter illustrates the fact that this team had not played together for almost three months, so I wouldn’t call it a mistake. We simply had to take advantage of this meeting to find a certain form of tempo against the brave Italians and apply ourselves to winning the line more to advance. The players remained solid, serious, involved and ended up gaining momentum in the second half, that’s the satisfaction.
Anthony Dupont: We are satisfied with this result with complicated conditions. The weather was favorable to them. With their desire, their speed, they put us in difficulty. There were a few bad choices, approximations, notably on my part. We all know that we will have to raise our level individually and collectively for the next match.
You were heavily penalized (14 penalties in total), is that one of the black points of this meeting?
AD: Absolutely, especially since it doesn’t look like us. We used to be pretty disciplined in our other games. It will be one of the things we should focus on during the week. Discipline needs to be corrected, line offsides too, that’s something quite simple to fix.
You went for the last try beyond regulation time, when the bonus was already acquired. Is every point valuable?
AD: Sure. More generally, on the operation of the Tournament, we know that each point is important. The main thing was to validate this offensive bonus and once we got it, we wanted to go further because with the experience of the last Tournaments (lost goal average to the English in 2020) , we know all the more how important it is.
The next game will be Ireland’s reception which was impressive against Wales. How are you going to approach this meeting, especially since you have one less recovery day?
IR: The Irish performance, is it really a surprise? Ireland is fourth in the world rankings and has lived up to its status. The challenge for all of us, which is super exciting, is to ensure that the six days that separate us from this meeting are as complete as possible. We have to step up a notch, but with the competitive instinct that circulates in this group, we will do it.
And then, in the preparation for this match, we are almost equal since Fabien was able to move forward on the strategic analysis of the Ireland-Wales match. (laughs). More seriously, we will have to recover well from this meeting in difficult conditions. We will only have one big day of high intensity training on Wednesday. What will count is the state of mind, the common and collective will and these players who performed brilliantly in the fall have our full confidence.