Nick Cain reports
A ton of French trouble awaits at Twickenham
FRANCE’S defeat by Fiji in the autumn in Paris was one good reason why no-one was expecting much in the way of shock-and-awe from Jacques Brunel’s side in this Six Nations.
They did not take long to confirm those misgivings by losing their opening game to Wales, throwing away a 16-0 first-half lead at the Stade de France on Friday night as Warren Gatland’s side pulled clear to a 24-19 victory.
One of the main contributors to the expectation of a lower half of the table finish is that as a rugby nation the French spend too much time projecting into the future rather than dealing with the here and now.
This image of the French as the game’s great romantics has been with us forever, even if it is a sometimes given as an excuse for not making the most of financial resources and playing numbers that are greater than any nation bar England.
That mindset might go some way to explaining why France already appear to have adopted the stance that this Six Nations, and the 2019 World Cup later this year, are stepping stones for their big push for glory when they host the 2023 World Cup.
Of course, FFR president Bernard Laporte is very keen for France to do well in Japan. Especially if it means getting one over Pool C rivals England, not only beating the Red Rose men at Twickenham on Sunday, but doing the same again when they meet in the last pool game in Yokohama in October.
However, all the indicators are that – unlike England – winning the 2019 World Cup is not the apex of Laporte’s agenda. From his perspective the priority is making sure that France are primed to conquer the world four years later, when the France U20 side that beat England in last year’s junior world championship final are in their prime.
There are a couple of serious drawbacks with this ‘jam tomorrow’ scenario – the first of which Laporte should be fully acquainted with.
The last time France were World Cup hosts, in 2007, and Laporte was their coach, they were beaten in Paris in the semi-finals, losing 14-9 to an England side in which Jonny Wilkinson was at his lethal best, kicking a late penalty and drop-goal to clinch a place in the final.
Laporte was inconsolable. That is why he, above anyone, should recognise that even allowing for the considerable benefits of home support, and the emergence of a talented group of young French players, there is no guarantee that they will be any more successful in 2023 than they were in 2007.
On top of that, the FFR boss has only to glance in the rear-view mirror at England’s 2015 car crash of a World Cup campaign to see that the idea that home support can carry a team over the line if they are deficient in strategy, selection, firepower or leadership, is badly flawed.
That is why if France intend living in the real world of elite rugby achievement they should have only three targets at the moment, all of them within this calendar year.
The first should be to win this Six Nations title – although that is now unlikely. The second is to put a psychological dent in England by beating them in the build-up to the 2019 World Cup in Japan. And the third ought to be to emulate England by becoming only the second Northern Hemisphere side to not just win the William Webb Ellis trophy, but also be crowned on foreign soil.
The path that coach Brunel has chosen for the 2019 Six Nations appears to rest on the basic premise of giving your opponents such a physical battering that they are unable to get off the canvas.
Brunel, who has coached Italy, as well as Bordeaux-Begles, Perpignan and Pau, was parachuted in to take over when Laporte – a former Bordeaux-Begles scrum-half – sacked Guy Noves a month before the 2018 Six Nations.
A year on Brunel has opted for the French ‘old guard’ mentality of subjugation, adhering to the principle that might is right by picking one of the biggest packs – if not the biggest – in the history of Tricolours rugby.
Brunel’s super-sized French pack against Wales weighed just shy of an
“Brunel has picked one of the biggest packs in the history of Tricolours rugby”
imperial ton in beef and bone. In the vanguard of the giant line-up are the huge 6ft 5ins tight-head Uini Atonio, who tips the scales at almost 22 stone, and he is joined by 6ft 8ins lock Sebastien Vahaamahina at 19st 9lbs, 6ft 6ins blindside Arthur Iturria at 17st 6lbs, and 6ft 4ins No.8 Louis ‘The Iceberg’ Picamoles at 18st 4lbs.
The latest addition to that cohort is the massive South African-born Montpellier lock Paul Willemse, who has qualified for France through three-year residency and made his debut against Wales on Friday night.
The 6ft 7ins, 20 stone Willemse hails from Pretoria, and was part of the 2012 South Africa U20 side that won the junior world championship. He played for the Blue Bulls before joining Grenoble in 2014 as a 21-yearold, arriving at the French club with his new bride the day after the childhood sweethearts were married.
The club’s then Irish coach, Bernard Jackman, said that he had been promised a new lock and had two options – Willemse or the Argentine international Tomas Lavanini. However, when Jackman heard that Lavanini had joined Racing 92 he made a Hobson’s choice decision and signed Willemse.
Even though the young South African stayed only a year with Grenoble before joining Montpellier, Jackman says it was not long before he recognised he was destined to play Test rugby.
“If he wasn’t playing for France he would be playing for South Africa. I do think he’s an international lock. He is the nearest thing I’ve seen to Bakkies Botha – he has that quality and that kind of aggression. That’s rare to have both, and I’m delighted for him.”
There are others in France who are less delighted that Willemse has become the eleventh South Africanborn player to adopt their cockerel-crested jersey of Les Bleus.
Former France scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili – himself of Georgian
ancestry – expressed reservations about his inclusion in a column Midi Olympique. Yuchvili’s view is that Willemse is an old school second row grunt who does not have the mobility and athlecism required of modern locks.
He asked: “Is Paul Willemse better than Yoann Maesti, Arthur Iturria or even Florian Verhaeghe? And would the All Blacks, the English, or the Irish want a player of Willemse’s profile? If the Springboks have not selected him, it’s not for nothing. For me, we are going backwards by selecting Willemse The problem is not that he is South African – the problem is that he's not suited to the rugby of tomorrow
Brunel hit back in Willemse’s behalf, saying he would make the critics eat their words. “For his size he has a runner’s profile. I don’t think it slows him down, and he packs a little more punch than someone like Felix Lambey. When I’ve seen him training, he shifts. He
“In recent times the biggest French flaw has been a lack of ball control”
has a real ability to get into the action, and has true dynamism. He possesses the qualities of a player of the highest level. The idea that he is beefy but static is completely wrong.”
Former France hooker Fabrice Landreau, who also coached Willemse at Grenoble, climbed into the trench next to Brunel. He said: “Paul brings a tremendous physical dimension. His power in the loose and his capacity to wrestle in the mauls will be valuable to France.”
This argument about size versus mobility is the kernel of a debate surrounding Brunel’s selection, and is likely to run throughout this Six Nations.
Run is the operative word, especially as Willemse and the rest of the French heavy brigade were blowing so hard against the Welsh that most of them were replaced ten minutes after half-time.
Unless this monster French pack can cover the ground more effectively against their more streamlined English, Scottish and Irish forwards – or impose their will by drawing them into a slugfest – they will be exposed.
What is disconcerting is that the French game does not look snailslow at club level compared to its English, Irish and Scots rivals in the European Cup. Quarter-final qualifiers Toulouse were not short of tempo when they beat Leinster in south-west France, or did the double home and away against Bath and Wasps, while Racing 92 proved in making the last eight that they could match Ulster for pace, and were too good all-round for Leicester.
France may not be quite as comfortable with a quick perpetual motion game as their Home Union opponents, but nor should they be left in the blocks – and when Brunel’s young bench came on against Wales there was a marked improvement in the mobility of the forwards.
All the indicators from the backline Brunel chose against Wales – with 19-year-old Toulouse insidecentre Romain Ntamack making his debut at the expense of the old master blaster, Mathieu Bastareaud – pointed towards France wanting to play with plenty of movement.
There is almost a six stone (38kg) difference between the relatively sylphlike Ntamack (13st/82kg) and the barrel that is Bastareaud (almost 19st/120kg), and his selection indicates that Brunel thinks he has enough brute force in his forwards to experiment with backs who have guile and pace.
With Clermont’s electric centre Wesley Fofana and the Morgan Parra-Camille Lopez half-back pairing picked alongside Penaud, and Ntamack’s seasoned Toulouse accomplices, Yoann Huget and Maxime Medard, completing the picture, there was no shortage of cohesion.
France’s two first-half tries underlined their threat. However, the key will be whether the moving parts in Brunel’s bulldozing pack synchronise with a backline built to counter-attack. The impressive Iturria showed the way with the inspired backhand offload that put Huget clear for his try, but after half-time that precision was in short supply.
In recent times the biggest French flaw has been a lack of ball control, whether wayward passing or the ball being spilled too easily in contact. If France rectify those flaws, as well as let the future look after itself, then they might just spring a surprise in the present.