XV of France – “8 tries, but so little teaching: can't wait for Saturday!”, the novel of this France-Japan

Rugby expresses a thousand things and among them, the brutal relationship between a dominant and a dominated, the physical predominance of an obliger over his obliged. The cult of strength is even so capital in this sport where, despite the coquetry of romantics of all stripes, the fight has always taken precedence over the avoidance that the Springboks, very well served by the Afrikaner genotype, would see themselves hanging on. in 2027 a third consecutive world title. Of the last France-Japan, we therefore only appreciated the first twenty minutes, a saccharine prologue to what would ultimately lead to a public execution, a scene of torture at prime time. The fact is that in rugby, sacrebleu, we may have all the good will in the world, an individual technique that is not far from optimal and the audacity which characterized Japanese hooker Mamoru Harada on Saturday evening when he attempted a cad' deb' on the fastest player in the territory (Louis Bielle-Biarrey), we cannot survive with dignity in a melee where we generally lose ten kilos and as many centimeters on each position.

“At the Stade de Francesaid afterwards this Eddie Jones suddenly deprived of his delicious wit, on n’a jamais been able to compete with their size and weight… For our young team, it'was just impossible… » And we hadt as much difficulty as you, Mr. Eddie, not to grimace with pain at the moment when Manny Meafou carried away three of your girls in a single racket or as François Cros, superb rugby player but whosehas power pure we had untile-there escaped, dragged two adversaries on a seemingly innocuous charge. Like it or not, France and Japan do not box Today in the same category and if tomorrow, a bloodthirsty promoter imagined a fight between Brahim Asloum and Tyson Fury, the conflict would also turn into the absurd or even, and this is more likely, the unbearable…

The Blues very quickly targeted the carotid

The sudden collapse of Japan, the only team to have recently shaken up the world rugby scene, is sad news for a sport with a hierarchy that is by nature sleepy, if not totally fixed. For the Japanese oval, ce «Brighton miracle» which had recorded on film the heroic act of the Brave Blossom against the Springboks of 2015, is nothing more than a dusty archive and at the twilight of a first match which had the trappings of a guided training, we are finally very afraid that the opening of the international season of the Tricolores is devoid of real lessons. In Saint-Denis, Antoine Dupont's teammates immediately targeted the carotid artery and, slowly but surely, waited until their prey completely emptied of its sap…

Of the eight tries flattened on Saturday evening by Fabien Galthié's squad, we will first cite the original achievement of Louis Bielle-Biarrey: this one, well shifted on the wing by a long pass from Thomas Ramos, scored in his usual style , or after having outpaced the entire opposing defense. In the process, Emilien Gailleton imitated his former partner from the French under-20 team and, recovering another decisive pass from Ramos, this time distilled at the foot, the Palois scored the first try of his international career. We will spare you the rest, my lords, as this meeting was, for France, a July 14 parade where the nation proudly presents to its people the greatness of its army and, for Japan, a long torture, a series of missed tackles and the promise, for a coach who previously wanted to place the Asian empire in the top 4 in the world, to promptly lower his demanding criteria.

43 minutes of effective playing time

So here we are, very uncomfortable, at the moment of drawing any conclusions from this one-sided match which nevertheless managed to bring together 4.5 million viewers – just as many as for the last pumpkin shoot match against to Belgium – proof among many others that the image of rugby was not that damaged by this summer of 2024 without any other, in terms of unease, sadness or scandal, depending on the episode you choose . To prevent our catechesis from seeming to you as stiff as the “performance plan” now governing the daily life of the French selection, we will nevertheless highlight that on this cool November evening, the XV of France without saying it played a match at 43 minutes of effective playing time, a quotient which legitimizes at the same time the omnipotence of current international rugby compared to the blessed days of dad's rugby or to our noble Top 14 weekends. Just like this figure crazy proves Fabien Galthié right when the national coach evokes not without emphasis the talent of the Japanese to keep the ball over very long sequences or that this ratio, more or less become the norm in rugby from above, finally explains why novice Tevita Tatafu was already looking for his second wind after twenty minutes.

In the light of this first match, we will also note that the “major replacement” recently made with regard to the thirty-year-olds of the France group apparently has the power to offer the French selection vigor and audacity that it had somewhat lost its way, after the World Cup: in the service of a strategy so long governed by “dispossession” before being pushed towards diversification by the evolution of the rules and the instructions given to referees from the international panel, Gailleton, Bielle-Biarrey, Roumat and Moefana undeniably offer Fabien Galthié the speed that feeds “version 6” of the French XV game project.

Since in this world, the anecdotal is often fundamental, we will not forget, either, that the national team had not played in the Saint-Denis ship since the elimination in the quarter-final of the tournament planetary and in this sense, mourning is now complete. In this small universe where Antoine Dupont rightly concentrates a mountain of love and a torrent of admiration, we will finally resume happily, to the refrain of Pierre Perret and with some of the 45,000 fadas who had so much difficulty filling the vessel from Saint-Denis Saturday evening: “Toto, king of the oval has returned! Olympic Games, bullion, he's got his ass covered! The ecstatic family shouts: “Long live the stocky one!” Toto, king of the oval has returned! » And for the rest, comrades? Just let us wait until Saturday…