Promises, but a strong taste of unfinished business. France’s XV has not finished his match, has not controlled his fate. Reversed on the wire by the bizarre Scots, on Friday 26 March at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, the French instead tasted a dish served in Wales six days earlier: defeated on a trial beyond regulation time (23-27) .
After not being able to achieve the quota of points needed for a crown in the Six Nations tournament, not being satisfied with – or not knowing – a painstaking victory, Charles Olivon’s teammates ended the competition on each other. The short defeat in five matches was an epilogue to meetings like the 2021 vintage of the Tournoi des Blas.
“It’s Hard To Lose Like This”, after the meeting recognized Fabian Galthy. Like his players, the French coach thought he had won the match when, beyond the sirens, Bryce Dulin found himself in hand the ball at the end of the Scottish attack, ending the game only to send the oval into contact. for.
France would then have finished the tournament with a minor victory (23–20), failing to win the title. “We tell ourselves that the match is over and we have won. But not in the end, we have to defend again and they will win”, lamented the French technician, without blaming the La Rochelle rear.
“Knocked a little”
“We’re kinda shocked, assured Gregory Alldritt of the third line. We tried to go back more than we won and we ended up with a losing match. “ Much like wanting to do, a final Scottish wave resulted in a corner tried by winger Duhan van der Merwe and of course a shower of blues, all evening drunk with rain and high balls.
They who were expected to win with a margin of four tries and 21 points to overtake the Welsh in the final standings were unsuccessful, finishing in 2.I Place du Tournoi. Venus “fight fire with fire”Gregor Townsend’s men responded to the French rear lines, with the “final” initially scheduled for 28 February, but having to be postponed due to Covid-19 contamination in the French ranks.
In the second half, while the Scots developed to fourteen after a yellow card, the Blues, for a few moments, expected an epic end to the match that would have seen them end their tournament with a symphony of trials. But despite three attempts registered, soloists Antoine DuPont or Bryce Dulin did not shine, completing a contest on the taste of unfinished business.
It’s over at the Stade de France! Huge disillusionment for France who bows down at the end of the meeting (23-27) … https://t.co/v87PUrZdu1
If French captain Charles Olivan last weekend had a . image of “The coin is thrown in the air which falls to the right” To analyze the victory in the extremists against the Welsh, the past three weeks have looked like a roller coaster for the Frenchman; Defeat on the wire (20-23) in England, a victory beyond regulation time (32-30) at the expense of XV Leak, then the Scottish eclipse on Friday.
Prior to this, the Blues had to put up a tough last-minute defense in Dublin, A small advantage (15-13). “In this tournament, all our confrontations were very intense and almost all were played on the last action”, noted Fabian Galthy.
always on the border
With the exception of a comfortable visit to Italy at the opening of the tournament (50-10) – Squadra Azura is hardly up to the level of the other five nations – France’s XV has always flirted with the limit. As did the French group favoring hygiene rules during the competition.
free from any offense notwithstanding that he is proved to have avoided “The bubble that is not a bubble, but a protocol” – The source is French Rugby Federation (FFR) president Bernard Laporte – and the explosion of Covid-19 within the group (sixteen cases including the coach and the captain), has drawn into the ‘blues of galthy’ a sanitary leaving a large part for interpretation in favor of regulation.
Paradoxically, the spirit of unfinished business is shared by the blues’ executioners. Although Paris emerged victorious for the first time since 1999 – at the time, there were still only five nations in the tournament – Scotland, too, has expressed its regret. “We want to be a consistent team that is hard to beat, and our journey in recent years shows that., congratulated coach Gregor Townsend. But we would like to win the title and it is disappointing not to fight for a win for two years. “
New hair to start the tournament, XV of Thistle followed successively with victories in Cardiff in the fall, at the end of the 2020 edition, at Twickenham in early February, then in Paris on Friday. First since 2002, 1983 and 1999 respectively. But the Scots sinned at home, were overthrown by the Welsh – in numerical superiority – then by Ireland, and could not compete for victory in the competition. Scotland, a major country in Europe, is also looking once again after years of fighting with Italy to avoid the wooden spoon (dedicated to the team that lost all its matches).
digest the annoyance to grow
Despite this defeat, and the curtain on a version full of surprising results, the record for the blues is far from black. “We had a good tournament, admits Gregory Aldrite. But we ran into a Welsh team that made it even better than us. “
Soaked in the mantra of Galthi – “Win matches and titles, fast” -, the blues are no longer satisfied with this unfinished progress. “There are details to settle down, the sum of tiny grains of sand to remove, so as not to end up in this second place we no longer want”, Dylan Cretin insists.
Because, 2023 and its home World Cup is fast approaching for France. After a time of promises, we must approach the annoyance. “We will learn from this brutal scenario and we must come back strong, launched Charles Olivan. We know where we came from and we will go back to work. It will develop us. ” Re-inventing oneself without throwing away the progress made. To avoid getting caught in this feeling of unfinished business.
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