Le Garrec shines as France eye resurgent England
United Kingdom: 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.
On the half-hour mark of a nailbiting match that saw a Le Garrec try – his first for France – push the visitors into a 20-17 half-time lead, the scrum-half 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