That French flair is all around us... except in France
Ntamack fears over ‘loss of culture’
‘ FOR 10 months, we had the gilet jaunes breaking everything, blocking everything. Every Saturday you c o ul dn’t walk t he s t r e e t . What changed?’ asks Emile Ntamack.
‘Nothing. It’s the same in French rugby. We know all about the wars. It’s s**t but what do you do to change it? Nothing. One or two wins here in Japan changes nothing. The problems will come back.’
Ntamack is here to watch his son Romain playing for France and despite family ties, he does not sugarcoat the state of affairs. France will book their place in the quarter-finals if they beat Tonga today but Ntamack sees a French team without identity.
‘ There have been so many questions about our team,’ he says. ‘ Before they left, the newspapers talked about this being the first French team not to qualify from the group stage in history. Players live in the real world and hear these things.
‘Everybody was saying “Oh, you’re s**t”. Now, w, they beat Argentina and people talk about ut winning the World d Cup. First, let’s get past Tonga. Nobody expects t hem t o beat England but maybe there will be a nice surprise.’
Problems persist st for France chief hief coach Jacques Brunel Brunel. But Nt a mack says: ‘ The problem is not Brunel. The coaching staff is 16 people now. Everybody says something to the player but who is the chief? Who makes the decisions? With England, Eddie Jones chooses everything.
‘ Maybe sometimes he is stupid but he is the boss. With France, we don’t know exactly who makes the decisions.
‘Brunel at the moment but Fabian Galthie for the future. Who will command at t he World Cup? We don’t know.’
Selection policies have been erratic. Before the Six Nations, Antoine Dupont was tipped as the new star. He was the cover boy for a matchday programme but, when the opening match came around, was not selected. Their response? They chopped his head out of the picture.
‘Sometimes we are prisoners of our own culture,’ says Ntamack. ‘We don’t give talent time. I can remember when Andrew Mehrtens was coming to an end with the All Blacks and Dan Carter was coming through. Carter would play good, play bad, play good and they would stick with him. ‘It It was the same when Beaud Beauden Barrett was taki taking over from Aa Aaron Cruden, o or Sexton and O ’ Ga r a . No t with France.
‘They picked Romain to face A Argentina and e everyone said, “W “Wh y change now now? He is t oo youn young. Jacques Brunel is a fool”. But it proved the right decision.
‘At the moment we have the incredible players but do we have the confidence and the collective genius? No.
‘We live too much in the past with French flair and the great counter-attack. This was in the past. Now the coaches say, “In this area you kick... in this area you play”. French rugby has too many plans.
‘The coaches are telling you what you have to do in this area, after the scrum, after the line-out. Scotland, Australia, Wales, Ireland, Argentina all have some French flair. French flair is all around you... except in France.’
With a heavy heart, Ntamack connects heavyweight centre Mathieu Bastareaud with the deterioration of the French i denti t y. Bastareaud — a battering ram in midfield — was the headline omission in France’s World Cup squad.
He made his debut a decade ago, when Ntamack was part of the selection committee.
‘It’s difficult for me to talk about Mathieu because his first cap was when I was with the national t e a m, ’ says Ntamack. ‘He was a symbol of a new generation when he started but at the same time, he needs to make more effort.
‘ In 2009, he started to get bigger. I said, “Mathieu, you have three months to lose four kilos… this is your challenge to stay in the French team”. Easy. He came back to the French team and was two kilos more.
‘He is a centre — a transition position between the 10 and the winger. For me, just to have power is not enough. He can survive in the Top 14, of course, but you can’t be like that in the international game.
‘He was captain of the French team. I do not want to attack the player but I will talk about the s y mb o l . B a s t a r e a u d captain of the French team?
‘This is your rugby now? Your philosophy? In the past, you can be a Serge Blanco, Philippe Sella, Saint Andre, Dominici, Ntamack — these are symbols. Is Bastareaud a symbol of the game you play with your kids? I don’t think so.’
As for the new foreign legion, Ntamack feels more must be done to protect development of youngsters. His son is at the heart of the next generation, alongside the likes of Dupont, Demba Bamba and Damian Penaud. This year’s World Cup may have come four years too early but Ntamack wants to see them given more chances ahead of foreign club players.
‘France is a free land and we love that but at the same time you have t o protect your French identity,’ he says. ‘If foreign players play in the Top 14 then maybe the French players don’t play. Sometimes you lose your identity.
‘For me, rugby in France is too confidential… private. You don’t have enough Moroccan or Algerian guys. This is not the real face of the French. To play rugby you need a culture. There is still a lot of potential.
‘ France i s multicultural. Roger Bourgarel was the first black player in 1951, then Serge Blanco, myself, Jimmy Marlu, but it is not enough.
‘Now you see Priso, you see Raka, Camara. You have a melting pot but there is more work t o be done. Football proved t hat. Look at Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante. You need guys like that.’
Yet France have already won their most important game and now it is likely to boil down to the battle for first place; a quarter-final against Wales or Australia.
But Ntamack says: ‘Everyone knows England is the strongest team in the group. We would love to hurt their pride.
‘We know the French team is not the best in the world but we don’t care. They have nothing to l ose. If you stay alive, anything can happen.’