From the outside it did not look anything out of the ordinary. The Maison de l’Europe, where France announced their XV for the keynote opening game of the Rugby World Cup, is a modest chalet-style building in Paris’s leafy western suburbs, not a million miles from the Champs-Élysées geographically but a world away from the city’s grander addresses. Glitz and glamour, for the time being, can wait.
Sitting up on the makeshift top table, Fabien Galthié and Antoine Dupont were also seeking to keep things relatively low-key. Galthié, sporting his trademark combo of dark suit, white trainers and heavy-rimmed specs, increasingly resembles the veteran manager of a rock band who knows he is sitting alongside a complete natural of a lead singer. When and if they plug everything in on Friday night, it could be a spectacular show.
There could be no ducking one inevitable question, even so. It is all well and good France fielding a team full of reassuringly familiar faces but, under the biggest and brightest of spotlights, how will they respond collectively? Galthié knew the word “pressure” would surface at some stage and duly spoke at length about the “emotion management” he has been consistently been stressing to his players for the past four years.
It was his skipper, Dupont, though, who nailed it best. “There’s pressure because we’re expected to do well, and we’ve built up people’s hopes over the last four seasons with the results we’ve had. But the pressure isn’t as high as the motivation and standards we set ourselves – or our ambition. Above all, we believe in ourselves. That’s what drives us. We have to keep doing what we’ve been doing for the last four years.”
That said, even Dupont accepts it will be “easier said than done” with an entire nation craning their necks for a better view of the boys in blue. So much expectation could, in theory, be crushing. No surprise, then, to hear the skipper pushing the counter-argument: that an irresistible wave of national pride could carry his side all the way to a first World Cup title.
“We need to take the positive energy of this pressure and let it carry us. We all have a responsibility to do something great at this World Cup. I’m captain, so I’m perhaps more in the limelight, but we all want to write our names into the tournament’s record books, something no French side has managed to do.”
The holy grail will not be easily claimed, given France’s position in the tougher half of the draw. Galthié, as a former national captain, also knows the potential pitfalls lurking just over the horizon. If the French lift the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time, the party will last for weeks but there is nil value in getting ahead of themselves.
“When we started out, we laid down some fairly simple rules based on a kind of vision: to bring French rugby together, to unite and share with the fans,” Galthié said. “Little by little, we’ve felt the support building. The public has identified with the team and what it means. Our role is simply to play. We don’t carry any weight, we don’t have any baggage to weigh us down.”
They also don’t have the hefty Jonathan Danty, who is not being risked for Friday night’s opener. The La Rochelle centre has trained this week but has not yet fully recovered from a hamstring strain and will be replaced in the starting lineup by Yoram Moefana. “He would have liked to start this match [but] we reached a decision and he understood it,” said Galthié. “The team will evolve. We can’t stick to 15 starters and eight finishers. We’re a group of 33, plus those on standby.”
The bulk of the starting XV is now familiar but injuries to regulars such as Paul Willemse, Romain Ntamack and Cyril Baille have forced some slight readjustment. Cameron Woki will start in the second row alongside Thibaud Flament, Reda Wardi replaces Baille at loosehead prop and Matthieu Jalibert retains the vacant No 10 jersey.
They have also gone for a 5-3 bench, as opposed to the 6-2 selection employed against Australia in their final warm-up game. A big test looms for one or two of their replacements but Dupont is up for the challenge. “The whole game will be tough. They have very few weaknesses, they’re consistent and also have the capacity to swing the momentum of a Test. [But] we have the ingredients for the result to be positive. It is the most beautiful team to play. When I was a child, like a lot of people, I loved this team.”
France team 15 Thomas Ramos; 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Gabin Villière; 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Antoine Dupont (capt); 8 Grégory Alldritt, 7 Charles Ollivon, 6 François Cros, 5 Thibaud Flament, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Reda Wardi Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Paul Boudehent, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Arthur Vincent, 23 Melvyn Jaminet
New Zealand team 15 Beauden Barrett; 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Mark Telea; 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith; 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane (capt), 6 Dalton Papali’i, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Sam Whitelock, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei'aho, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Tupou Vaa'i, 20 Luke Jacobson, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 David Havili, 23 Leicester Fainga’anuku
The history books also reveal, though, that France have lost their past three World Cup matches against New Zealand, in a 2015 quarter-final and in 2011 when they were beaten in the pool phase and in the final. Their last tournament victory over the All Blacks was in 2007, when they famously won 20-18 in the quarter-finals in Cardiff. While that competition was technically hosted by France, its scheduling quirks slightly diluted its impact in certain quarters.
There was certainly nothing like this year’s groundswell of national fervour. It was more than 30 degrees again in Paris on Wednesday and not the weather for rushing excitedly around or dancing in the streets. But inside every air-conditioned building, swish or otherwise, there was no avoiding the sense of tangible anticipation. That expectation will be both France’s biggest weapon and their greatest obstacle.
The All Blacks, meanwhile, have made three changes to their starting XV to face the hosts. Anton Lienert-Brown replaced the injured Jordie Barrett at inside-centre. Barrett has been struggling with a knee problem and did not train this week so Lienert-Brown will play his second Test of the year alongside Rieko Ioane in midfield.
Codie Taylor returns at hooker after a hamstring problem and Nepo Laulala comes in at tighthead prop for Tyrel Lomax, who needed 30 stitches in a cut to his leg after the crushing loss to South Africa in New Zealand’s final warm-up. In the back row, Dalton Papalii, who usually plays on the openside, starts as blindside flanker, with Shannon Frizell still ruled out by a hamstring problem.
