XV of France – Technical. Why Antoine Dupont is more central than ever in the Blues' game

We have often returned, in these columns, to this now famous “black game” refined under the leadership of William Servat, who for four years now has been the business of the XV of France when it ventures into the marquee zone. Its principle? Work through the forwards (and certain three-quarters like Villière or Moefana) around the rucks, to generate dynamic advances in the axis of the field. The goal is first to concentrate the defense there, to the point of creating width imbalances exploited by three-quarters by “bridge” attacks, that is to say in vertical formation, so as to avoid wingers rushing forward. These precepts are very simple, of course, but they have still worked miracles against the Pumas and few defenses manage to find the solution. As proof, we want this first try scored by Flament (directly after a series of shellings, 8th) or even that of Villière (36th), freed by two passes after contact from Ramos and Barré after a lot of work fixing the forwards.

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XV of France – Technical. How the Blues used dispossession to blame Argentina

On this table, we would have loved to add, for the good mouth, a third attempt by Gailleton (77th) built on the same model as Villière's production, if this had not logically been refused for the video for an en -before by Julien Marchand. Proof that the method is – fortunately – not infallible, as also highlighted by several aborted actions due to balls lost by Antoine Dupont, crushed behind his rucks by the Argentine defenders in the 26th, 47th and 51st minutes…

Three systematized supports around the Dupont hub

Why are there so many unusual mistakes in him, you might ask? Because, although he undoubtedly is the best player in the world, the Stade Toulouse scrum-half nonetheless remains a human being. Above all, more than ever, the Blues' game revolves around their scrum half during their forays into the opposing 22 meters. It is here that Dupont carries the ball more and more systematically in his animation around the rucks, with the aim, obviously, of attracting as much attention as possible from the opposing defenders and freeing up space for his forwards. Since the start of the November tour, the cells have been systematically organized with one player inside and two others outside, in order to offer him a triple possibility of choice. “When France enters this zone, it is very difficult to stop, admitted the Argentinian coach Felipe Contepomi, a handsome loser. This is why it is one of the best teams in the world. They play a lot around number 9, they do interesting things with crosses in this area…”

“There is nothing fundamentally new, it’s what we’ve been trying to work on for a while, explained Dupont on the eve of the meeting. We adapted to what was offered to us: when the opponent puts a lot of fight on the rucks and pressure on the outsides, this creates breaks on the edges. And as we have forwards who are intelligent and powerful in their runs, they can showcase their qualities on dynamic balls. Dupont's sense of the game, reading of situations and individual technique do the rest to place his “big guys” in the lead, while allowing him to suffer less impact and keep lucidity during the rare tackle attempts. delayed on his person being all the more visible and therefore sanctioned by the referees. Like this penalty conceded by Matera just before half-time, which allowed the Blues to reach 30-9 at the break…