While French clubs have dominated – even skimmed for some – the Champions Cup in recent weeks, expectations are necessarily even higher around the French XV. Does this give it an advantage over the competition in the Tournament? The equation is more complex than that…
You hear it, this music that comes back over and over among rugby lovers: “Considering how we dominate the European Cup, we will win the Tournament.” Rude and caricatured shortcut? Certainly. The main players will rightly retort that the nature of this sport is much more complex.
Nevertheless, how can we blame French supporters for already imagining a triumph for Antoine Dupont and his friends, after having seen Toulouse and Bordeaux-Bègles fly through the group stage of the Champions Cup, Toulon snatch a first group place, Castres and La Rochelle to host in the round of 16, and even Clermont to invite itself back among the big guys? “I see the results clearly, I try to understandFabien Galthié also indicated this week. I have no opinion to give because I am preparing for another competition, but I have questions.” Where some especially hope for a sacred answer.
The offensive demonstrations of a Toulouse stadium or a UBB in “steamroller” mode left their mark. How could the French XV, whose main suppliers are these two teams which each spent 80 and 42 points at Leicester then 64 and 69 points at Exeter, tremble against England at Twickenham in two weeks? “It's completely differenttempers François Cros. If I take last weekend's match, for us in Toulouse where we scored 80 points against Leicester, many made the comparison with a France-England but that has nothing to do with it. You don't have to get carried away. This gives you confidence but the Tournament will be another competition. We know the energy we put in when we are in the selection.”
Mola: “Talents, you know them all…”
Sincerely, if we have to put the case of Ireland aside, which won the Tournament in 2023 and 2024, then which concentrates the majority of its internationals in a Leinster team having reached the last three Champions Cup finals, we must Does he really fear anything from this XV of the Rose? Asked about the poor state of form of English rugby last Sunday, Toulouse manager Ugo Mola provided an explanation: “Some reasons may perhaps be found in Brexit on the English side, and post-Covid may have been better managed here. We were better supported on this side of the Channel. But the English impressed me on the number of players they manage to bring out in this new generation I remind you that at the World Cup, they finished ahead of us. I have the impression that they do not yet know where they stand. , but they still have enough guys incredible, having good players is good but the hardest part is getting them to play together.” In short, find this harmony recently observed in Toulouse or Bordeaux. “You all know the talents and I train them on a daily basiscontinues Mola. But what fun when they are able to play together!”
-Galthié: “Transform this energy”
It is there, the tricolor challenge, to meet the even greater expectations behind the glorious “European” episode: to rely on the Dantesque performances and the collective euphoria at the club to nourish the national team. “It's important to start on a good note, it gives a good dynamicthis Dupont. This starts us off on preparation for the Tournament. We saw everyone in good shape, able to move around, and also to hit. All the lights are green.”
Icon Sport – Hugo Pfeiffer
And the coach intends to use it: “Our job is to recover this energy that comes from the clubs and refocus it on a single team. If we manage to transform it well, we will be able to compete. But it is not a foregone conclusion.” Comments which echo the irony of Mola, when we pointed out to him how his internationals were currently walking on water: “Yes, but I remind you that this generation has just made one grand slam in five years. So, perhaps they should move on (smile).”
This, while the “French” have won the last four editions of the Champions Cup. A way, as Dupont puts it, of switching “frustration into motivation”. Also to definitively reign over Europe…
