If the rotten summer that the Blues went through is not yet completely behind, it is now up to them to turn the page during the November tests, in the wake of the return of Antoine Dupont. Not so simple since at the same time, certain “histories” will play a big role…
It was four months ago. A century. An eternity. A rotten southern winter during which, pell-mell, an extremely drunk player from the XV of France inadvertently published a video sullied by a second degree of the worst taste, two others were imprisoned after being accused of rape in a meeting with violence, and a young man lost his life off the Cape of Good Hope. From ? A lot of water has passed under the bridge, of course… Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou have resumed competition with their club without having waited for the official dismissal which continues to drag on, Melvyn Jaminet has been reinstated to the collective training of the RCT, while the Agen public prosecutor's office opened a judicial investigation for involuntary homicide in the context of the disappearance of Mehdi Narjissi.
And life continues like this, a merciless steamroller, which now brings the XV of France back to the front of the stage for the autumn tour, after having ratified a charter of good behavior and putting an end, sworn and spat, to the tradition of the post-match beer in the locker rooms, just to restore a bit of image with sponsors and the general public.
At the crossroads of generations
Enough to be able to concentrate, ultimately, only on the game and the upcoming receptions of Japan, New Zealand and Argentina? That's pretty much the idea and that's good for Fabien Galthié and his staff, well aware of the importance of these three meetings. Which concerns him in the first place, obviously, after the inevitable heartbreaks which followed the summer meetings, and precipitated the return to the forefront of Raphaël Ibañez in the role of Père Fouettard. The staff, but also – and above all – the players, to whom Galthié had suggested that they would be “between 85 and 90%” kept in view of the World Cup in Australia, but whose thirty-year-olds are starting to stick out their tongues and would have a hard time recovering from a failure, given the emergence of the new generation embodied by Alexandre Roumat to the detriment of Charles Ollivon, or Tevita Tatafu in the costume of Uini Atonio.
Which is, for the moment, only the beginning… This is why it is “short-term” management that the Blues have chosen to favor, in particular by entrusting the keys to the team in the absence of Romain Ntamack. champion to Thomas Ramos rather than Matthieu Jalibert, in the name of his good performances at the end of the last Tournament and his club complicity with the returning Antoine Dupont.
Dupont's double burden
Antoine Dupont? Exactly, let's talk about it. Because after a year of absence in blue during which he piled up titles and other medals (European and French champion with Toulouse, then Olympic champion with the Bleus du VII), the undisputed icon of French rugby has unsurprisingly found a captain's armband which the staff was quick to return to him. Because for this Dupont with such a perfect image, capable of assuming without complaining a replacement role during the Olympics and now anchored in the top trio of the French's favorite sports personalities, the project will be twofold.
Firstly sporting, since for him it will be a question of relaunching a French XV which suffered during the past year in his absence. But also – if not above all – media, with the mission of reconciling the general public with the sacrosanct values of the Ovalie whose stock price has fallen somewhat. Which will obviously involve victories and spectacle. Far from impossible given the form displayed by the Blues' future opponents, but all the same…
