XV of France – With Charles Ollivon in 8, the Blues move to hybrid

After making his international debut on tiptoe during the last Tournament, “helping out” in the second row position due to the immutability of the Cros-Alldritt-Ollivon trio, Alexandre Roumat nonetheless made an impression , for a little over a year. Because of his knowledge of the touch and his leadership in announcements, first of all (while much more experienced players had not necessarily assumed this responsibility), but also and above all because of his rare ability to chain together tasks at a very high level. high intensity, coupled with solid gold hands, precious for finding technical accuracy when restarting the game, and allowing the Blues' game to develop beyond the frontal challenge…

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This is why, in this week when the question of replacing a Grégory Alldritt in search of his best form arose acutely, the temptation could on paper seem very great for the Blues staff to shift Roumat by one notch. Because the Toulousain occupies the position of number 8 in the club, and this choice would have made it possible to go all the way in the search for the “red and black” balance after which the XV of France seems to be running, just to create a “spine” with Mauvaka and the Dupont-Ramos pair supported by Cros and the second line Flament-Meafou, while awaiting the return of Ntamack in the spring.

Roumat, still too undisciplined?

The problem? The fact is that, if Roumat has proven to be imperial under the dismissals for two matches and rather effective in touch, his lack of power on the front line and especially his indiscipline (five fouls in two matches) have apparently tempered his “hype” in the eyes of the staff. Hence the choice made by Galthié and his troops to relaunch the hybrid Charles Ollivon in the lane, who will be both the “touchdown” of the third line as well as an element of experience to sort the balls behind his scrum , where the Blues suffered some setbacks against the Blacks. Reference made here, obviously, to the try scored by Roigard behind a botched exit by Alldritt…

With Boudehent, a question of balance(s)

However, will the extra power brought by Ollivon compared to Roumat be enough to compensate for the absence of Alldritt? It is precisely here that the notion of balance of a pack comes into play, and that the return of Uini Atonio to carry the ball in the company of Emmanuel Meafou or Paul Boudehent takes on its full meaning. It being understood here that if the French front five risks lacking movement capacity, the establishment of a more mobile third line was obvious, and therefore of an Ollivon which has the advantage of a radius of superior action to Alldritt and superior power to Roumat. Enough to keep the possibility of shining in all forms of play, but also and above all to keep up the pace on the long sequences that the Argentinians will seek to impose, without forgetting this famous six-forward bench where the young trio Guillard-Rumat- Gazzotti will be responsible for injecting extra freshness and dynamism into money-time. But also to prepare for the future in the short and medium term, in the name of the “vision” and of “emulation” praised by the coach with a view to the 2025 Tournament and the 2027 World Cup, between the regeneration needs of one and the competitive needs of the others…