If the Blues calmly beat Argentina (37-23) on Friday and concluded their fall tour perfectly, captain Antoine Dupont targeted points for improvement for the future.
The trap was avoided. Opposed to Argentina for their last test match of the November tour, the Blues outclassed the Pumas (37-23) on Friday at the Stade de France, to end a checkered 2024 on a good note. After having succeeded in their fall return against Japan (52-12), then bringing down the New Zealand ogre (30-29), they scored a third consecutive victory in a choppy match marked by Argentine indiscipline (eight penalties in the first half, two yellow cards).
Fabien Galthié's men had the merit of quickly taking cover, going into the break with a comfortable lead. After 40 minutes, they had already totaled 30 points, which France had not managed against Argentina since 2012. The second period proved to be a little more anecdotal, even if the rocket Louis-Bielle Biarrey did again of his own. When it came time to take stock, captain Antoine Dupont did not hide his great satisfaction, while insisting on “the room for improvement” of this French team.
“We can have more consistency”
“We won the All Blacks by a single point and I think that with a little more rigor, the gap could have been wider. And today we are at 30 to 9 at the break, then there is had a moment of relaxation. We will have things to work on to arrive even more ready for the Tournament (of the VI Nations, which will begin on January 31 against Wales at the Stade de France)”, he underlined.
And to clarify: “We were talking about our offensive game, I think we can have more consistency. We knew how to be pragmatic, to score with very little playing time, but our playing cells and everything we work on during the week, we have difficulty finding it at the weekend. It's a bit of a shame when we see the qualities we have, the offensive weapons, to not have more cartridges to exploit them. our defense was still positive but we defended a lot. the three matches we have to be able to have more attacking balls.
“It was an important gathering, some of us hadn't seen each other for a year. We had to find a dynamic again, it was important to be present in these three matches, it was done, against teams who finished their seasons and which have been in progress for six months, we had to move quickly, quickly find the organization to be able to play them and perform,” insisted Galthié.
