The tricolores waved, the lights flashed red, white and blue, and the Stade de France continued to pulsate. In the minutes after victory over Ireland, the French players strode towards the stands to lead their supporters in a Viking Clap. Through 80 enthralling Six Nations minutes the volume had barely dipped and yet the French support still had more to give. On the weekend of Saint Valentine in the city of love, this was a tale of a Paris public seduced by Fabien Galthie’s new romantics.
Plonked in the suburb of Saint-Denis away from the rugby heartlands of the south, the Stade de France crowd hasn’t always warmed to its rugby team, existing as it has in a state of malaise for so much of this century, supporters conveying an air of indifference even in the Six Nations cauldron. Not this year. The home side had been rocked, but the Stade de France rolled with them, producing a pyretic roar to reignite the pyrotechnics: Uini Atonio’s charge cleared the space for Cyril Baille to reach for the crucial score that eventually saw them back up their billing as Six Nations favourites.
“When the stadium is full like this it is always a great moment to play here, and we knew before the game that we would need a lot of support against Ireland,” said Alldritt, dipping to hear the interviewer amid the din. “Today we had a magnificent crowd in the stands.”
It had been introduced as the game of the tournament and a potential Grand Slam decider and yet France against Ireland still out-performed the hype. The tone was set in the opening 60 seconds, a lineout flung quickly infield to spark the first French attack. Atonio’s carry and Baille’s clearout provided the plasterwork – Romain Ntamack and Antoine Dupont, the pin-up and the poster-boy, the decorative flourish.
The French blitz kids only built from there. With such ferocity, they rushed up to roar in Ireland’s faces, spoiling the patterns that appeared so nicely in Dublin last weekend. For 45 minutes they were relentless, Ireland accepting the incisions of Melvyn Jaminet’s right boot rather than risk greater lacerations.
But for Mack Hansen’s bolt from the blue shirts to claim Joey Carbery’s restart from the Paris evening air, France’s lead would have been 22, and the game could have been put of sight. Yet back Ireland came to fire forthright shots of their own, refusing to be browbeaten. By the maul’s might they advanced, allowing Josh van der Flier to bash his way through, before Jamison Gibson-Park moved them to within a point.
That was to be as close as they came. Ireland may rue not looking for the corner with a penalty seven minutes from time, instead halving the gap to three points. Might the absent Johnny Sexton have determined a different approach to otherwise strong stand-ins Joey Carbery and James Ryan? It might not have mattered. The volume had been lifted, the French reignited by a public that has fallen back in love with its rugby team.
Galthie had laid out his grand plan before the game, loading up with six forwards on the bench. On 55 minutes, soon after Baille’s score, a replacement tight five entered en masse to ballast the vessel against the waves of Irish attack. For Demba Bamba and Jean-Baptiste Gros, so impressive as U20 propping partners, there were statement cameos in relief of the magnificent Baille and colossal Atonio.
“It is a beautiful victory which we went after with all we had in the locker,” Galthie reflected. “Even if we lacked experience in our replacements, we had a moment when we were treading water, but the replacements [eventually] brought the energy in what we required.
“We were able to take control again and have the upper hand in conditions that were physically, psychologically, statistically [challenging]; like the All Blacks but with a different opponent.
“That’s very, very positive. There is also the collective experience as a team that is improving. It shows that the team’s confidence is developing.”
While much of this side’s growth has come behind closed doors, television viewing figures have swelled, and the fans have returned with increased fervour. It is hard not to be entranced by the French side’s balletic, bulldozing beauty, of course, but there are the wider themes, too: greater alignment between the clubs and the national side, driven by spectacled supremo Bernard Laporte; a more diverse side to reflect a multi-cultural nation.
There is so much of this championship yet to come. France go to Murrayfield next to take on Scotland, who have derailed French hopes of their last two campaigns, and neither a Friday in Cardiff or England’s visit on the final day are likely to be quiet nights in. But in Saturday’s on and off-field frenzy there was so much to suggest that the French love affair will continue.
Wales 20-17 Scotland
Familiar pangs of disappointment for Scotland, again failing to back up an impressive performance against England with the away victory they required to advance their Six Nations candidacy. Their clash with Wales was the sort of gripping fare in which this competition so often trades.
The image of a limping Dan Biggar refusing to leave the field until he believed the job was done spoke volumes about the character of the Welsh captain. But the role of Wales’ other 100-capper was of equal importance. Jonathan Davies’ club form has been middling at best this season and it appears that Wayne Pivac is keen to look at other options in the centres, including Owen Watkin, who had his best game in a Welsh shirt.
Yet it was Davies’ defensive interventions that ensured Wales held firm in the final stages, performing something of a great train robbery in standing up and stripping Duhan van der Merwe on the charge, and then leading the Welsh counter-ruck that sealed victory with the clock in the red.
Supporters yearn for a bench to lift the tempo, and there is a tendency to dismiss those who have slipped out of the starting side as unable to add further value. However having veteran nous among the replacements can be incredibly useful come the throes, as South Africa showed with Francois Louw and Frans Steyn at the World Cup – and Wales with Davies on Saturday.
Italy 0-33 England
Eddie Jones had urged his side to “light up Rome”, but England never quite managed to do more than flicker. There is a certain muddled haste to too much of England’s play, which is breeding inaccuracy particularly after an initial break is made. A first Six Nations nilling of a battling Italy should not be sniffed at, and Martin Gleeson’s attack is affording a cavorting Marcus Smith plenty of opportunity to unfurl some cunning touches.
Smith flashed particularly when Harry Randall was on the pitch. Ben Youngs, drawing level with Jason Leonard as the most-capped male England player, had a more uneven showing off the bench. It would be a real gamble to go with Randall against Wales, but given how the speed of Jamison Gibson-Park’s service troubled the Welsh defence in Round One, Jones might be tempted to keep his free electron of a scrum-half in the starting side, and again hold a record-breaking Youngs in reserve.
