Saturday November 9, it was a reunion evening in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). A year after their cruel elimination in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, the Blues were back at the Stade de France for their first match of the fall, against Japan. A meeting with the Ile-de-France public which quickly took on the appearance of a giant banquet. Several tones above the Brave Blossoms, Fabien Galthié's men made short work of their opponents, dispatched 52 to 12.
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If the French did not shy away from their pleasure of returning to the pitch at the Dyonisian enclosure, they were especially happy to find, a year later, Antoine Dupont, their scrum half, star and captain. Their Private partner also, as one of the brass bands in the stands pointed out by chance during the meeting. Above all, the one that they had missed terribly during a mixed Six Nations Tournament, whose home matches were played in Marseille, Lille and Lyon, while the Blues' usual lair was getting an Olympic beauty.
The Ile-de-France stadium did not forget Antoine Dupont and let him know by standing up as one man when the Toulouse number 9 went to score a try in the second half, ultimately refused for a forward. The best player in the world 2021 was not out of place in Saint-Denis, he who had warmed up the place for his friends from the XV by going to collect gold with the French rugby sevens team.
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“I wasn’t lost, I quickly found myself here,” laughed the leader of the Blues the day before, during the traditional pre-match press conference. The guy is the type to keep his promises and had announced that his troops wanted “have fun on a rugby field”. Which is due, therefore, for the Tricolores who piled up the tries all evening, following the rhythm of their supporters.
The Blues in search of redemption
In the stands, Emilie's eyes, a song that became a sort of anthem to the glory of French athletes during the Olympic Games, was barely finished when winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey (4e minute) and center Emilien Gailleton (10e) were already going to make a jump into the opposing goal. As for the third row Alexandre Roumat (19e), he waited for the end of the first “ola” to start his attempt, just like Bielle-Biarrey (28e), again, just before a Marseillaise does not resonate in the bays. The matter was settled and the French supporters could even afford to politely applaud the first Japanese try, refused after video refereeing (38e).
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