Le Garrec shines as France eye resurgent England

CARDIFF: Nolann Le Garrec put his hand up as a worthy successor for Antoine Dupont’s number 9 shirt with an all-encompassing display in France’s 45-24 victory over Wales in the Six Nations. Le Garrec, 21, rightly won the man-of-the-match award for his performance behind a dominant pack, linking perfectly with Thomas Ramos as the clock wound down and the French turned the screw on the home side at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

“We suffered in our first three matches, but we got back on track. We showed our good side and I hope that we will use that to finish the tournament well next week,” said the Racing 92 scrum-half.

Dupont is absent from the France team, instead plying his trade with the French sevens rugby team in a bid to play at this summer’s Paris Olympics. Maxime Lucu was seen as his natural successor, having played a replacement role at the Rugby World Cup.

But Lucu struggled in France’s 38-17 defeat by Ireland and also the scrappy 20-16 victory over Scotland and 13-all draw with Italy. Against Wales, Lucu was named on the bench, with Le Garrec taking over the starting spot. “I am not someone who is very stressed but I was perhaps a little more tense than usual, I think that was evident in the first five minutes,” acknowledged Le Garrec. Indeed, a scuffed pass from Le Garrec allowed Wales winger Rio Dyer to scamper in for his team’s first try.

On the half-hour mark of a nail-biting match that saw a Le Garrec try — his first for France — push the visitors into a 20-17 half-time lead, the scrumhalf drew gasps of breath. A messy ball back from a line-out saw the scrum-half scramble back and fling out an audacious one-handed, 30-metre spin pass behind his back.

“We watched the ball fly, the Welshman holding out his hand saying to himself ‘is it mine, is it not mine?’... But it passed him by,” France coach Fabien Galthie said. Thankfully for France, the ball found its way to Ramos and an attack was launched.

Lucu on the scoreboard

Galthie praised not only Le Garrec’s attacking abilities but also his pairing with Ramos, who played at fly-half rather than his preferred full-back position. “When you play on the front foot, you have time, you have less pressure. He was constantly taking the game up. It’s one of his major qualities,” Galthie said of the Brittany-born half-back.

“He also put in some extras, working back in defence, scrapping down the lines. He was one of the players who really put his hand up. He answered the call.” In a well-scripted ending for France, it was Lucu who had the final word as he crashed over for the last of his team’s five tries, going some way to silencing his many critics since the start of the Six Nations. — AFP