There are signs like that that shouldn't deceive. Antoine Dupont returning is both symbolic and, in reality, much more. Without really making noise or waves, the captain of the Blues is from that caste of individuals who change a collective and beautify it, who inflate its confidence, its beliefs and its appetite to rethink life in a big way. It's when Dupont is missing from the landscape that we really realize its immense importance. We measured it well, over a whole year. But Dupont is coming back and will be there, with the Blues du XV, for the opening of this fall tour.
There are also these strong messages sent by the staff in recent weeks. Those of the group of 42, its regular entries and exits throughout the preparation. Very quickly, we understood that the trend was towards a discount for Cameron Woki, “forgotten” from the initial group, returned only thanks to injuries and finally ejected again, last Sunday.
Less scathing, just as striking: Charles Ollivon, Maxime Lucu and Jonathan Danty, sent back to their club in the middle of last week, left at the disposal of the Top 14. None will start on Saturday against Japan. No more than Gaël Fickou. Fabien Galthié's executive players, “mandate 1”. A year ago, this would have been unthinkable. It is now a reality.
Notice, for each of the players mentioned, a common denominator: they are in their thirties and, for some, will even approach 35 when the time for the World Cup in Australia (2027) comes. A breath of youth? It's not that sectarian. For the XV of France, it is a question of finding the right eurythmy between freshness and experience; to keep an eye on the day after tomorrow in order to lay the foundations today for possible global success, in three years. It is a fine, unstable balance between the obligation to win now and the desire to prepare for the near future. All made even more perilous by the infernal cadences which punctuate the Top 14, and never spare the aging bodies.
This quest, Jonathan Danty and Charles Ollivon are directly paying the price, who will not appear in the group this Saturday against Japan. Maxime Lucu also pays it, who only seems to owe his place in the 23 to the defection of Nolann Le Garrec. Fickou, finally, is one of the debtors, propelled onto the bench by the duo of youngsters (Gailleton-Moefana) and who, for the first time in ages, disappears from a starting XV by the choice of his staff; not by constraint.
Bad times for the management players. In their place, we will therefore see Gailleton, Moefana and Roumat. Tatafu too, who moved into the starting XV from his big debut, taking advantage of the absence of Atonio, 12 years his senior.
All younger, then. This is no coincidence. More mobile, too, and this is the other lesson of the (r)evolutions currently taking place among the Blues. A little less weight, a little more movement: the promise of rugby that becomes lighter and faster? This is what we would like to read, between all these moving lines, for this redemption tour where it will be as much a question of result as of manner and image…
These signals, these messages, are those of a new story that must finally be written, after a year of healing a wound that will truly never heal. A year of getting lost, too, in too many extra-sporting wanderings which made us forget the essential: rugby is a sport, first of all, and a magnificent one at that. The French team is his greatest attraction and on Saturday, he returns to field affairs. With a new beginning to make.
