Sebastien is France’s unsung strategist
Sebastien Piqueronies is not a name many will instantly think of in relation to the rugby revolution of Fabien Galthie’s nu
France.
That’s wrong. The former France U20s coach, who now has the title Manager France Jeunes Rugby, is the architect of a clear and effective pathway from age-grade to senior rugby that Galthie and his staff are benefiting from as they build to the World Cup in 2023.
No fewer than nine graduates of Piqueronies’ U20 world championship-winning classes of 2018 and 2019 – Demba Bamba, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Louis Carbonel, Kilian Geraci, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Romain Ntamack, Arthur Vincent, Cameron Woki and Hassane Kolingar – have already been capped at senior level. In total, 15 young players have been called up to training camps.
Waiting in the wings are Jordan Joseph, Clement Laporte, Sacha Zegueur, Lucas Tauzin and Ugo Boniface. Expect to see their names on future France teamsheets.
Another member of that golden generation, Matthieu Jalibert, was absent for the world championships in 2018 having suffered a season-ending knee ligament injury 30 minutes into his Test debut six months earlier.
We’ve been here before. Galthie made a near-clean break with the past when he took charge of France. The old guard, whether they were ready to call it a day or not, were retired. He wanted players without the baggage of France’s recent dismal history, with – at worst – little remembrance of that losing past.
He needed players ready, willing, and able, to buy-in to his tough training regime and highoctane, full-throttle gameplan.
His search for players with his right stuff quickly took him to Piqueronies’ alumni. His first training squad featured 19 uncapped players. His first matchday side had a third of the caps of their opponents – England.
While Galthie is redrawing the present story of France in his image, Piqueronies is already looking to the next generation. Earlier this autumn, 46 promising teenage players from clubs across France were singled out for additional FFR monitoring and support under a scheme set up by the FFR in conjunction with the clubs.
On that list are Romain Ntamack’s little brother Theo; former Ireland player Trevor Brennan’s youngest son Josh – who made his senior club debut off the bench yesterday; Gregory Le Corvec’s lad Matteo; and Didier Retiere’s son Edgar.
They are the potential cream of a crop of some 120 possible stars of the future, aged 17 to 19, that the FFR has called to training camps. Next year, another group will start the same journey.
Piqueronies admits France’s U20s of 2018 and 2019 were exceptional and has said he cannot guarantee as many players will regularly make the step-up to senior rugby. But he deserves to be at least acknowledged for laying the foundations on which Galthie is building his squad, and France sides for the next decade and beyond. This is Piqueronies’ legacy just as much as Galthie hopes it will be his.
One young player not on the France list of 46 is 18-year-old fly-half Louis Foursans, who kicked all 21 of Montpellier’s points in their 15-21 win at Clermont on Friday night. It was a much-needed morale-booster ahead of Montpellier’s Champions Cup opener against Leinster.
Teddy Thomas returned to club action after hitting his three-autumn-match capacity with France, and scored the
only try as Racing 92 won 12-17 in dismal conditions at Bordeaux. It was Racing’s fourth win on the road this season.
In just two weeks, new head coach Regis Sonnes has made basement side Agen harder to break down – but they still came off second best against Brive, who moved out of the bottom two with a 6-15 away win. Toulouse – with several of their internationals back – also won on the road, beating Bayonne 20-24.
Lyon were the only home side to win in the first five games of what has so far been a low-scoring Top 14 weekend, holding-on to beat La Rochelle 22-18.
Today’s international ‘mismatch’ between England and France at Twickenham was branded a farce by the English media, apparently furious that Eddie Jones’s side, with 813 caps in the starting lineup alone, will face a France side boasting a starting total of 68 – with 30 of those belonging to full-back Brice Dulin.
This, too, is old news. Ahead of the SIx Nations opener
between the two sides back in February, England head coach Eddie Jones promised “absolute brutality” from his squad.
The media agreed. England had too much experience, nous and cunning to lose against a side long on potential, but short on collective international gametime. We know what happened next. France were more than a match for battle-hardened, worldly wise England.
Ten months and seven matches later, the experience-gap is wider still due to the FFR and LNR agreement of a maximum of three-selections-per-player during the extended window.
Galthie highlighted the experience-gap at his squad announcement: “We’ve had the challenge, it’s our job, to transform a squad into a team.We’re a young squad trying to build.”
France could easily get cheesed today – World Cup finalists on home soil is about as tough a gig as it gets. But the squad Galthie has named is no makeweight 23. Many of these players winning early or first
caps can expect to end their careers with a decent number of internationals to their name.
The Autumn Nations Cup was a makeshift competition hastily put-together after the southern hemisphere sides’ tours were cancelled. It’s a competition that didn’t exist when Galthie took charge of France, a title he’ll live without in his great scheme of rugby things.
France are due to return to Twickenham in the Six Nations in March. That’s another matter altogether. What price a practice match against a full-bore England a few months earlier? No matter what happens today, Galthie and France are the big winners this autumn.
The weekend’s rugby doesn’t end at the final whistle at Twickenham. This evening, Pau entertain Castres while Stade Francais face Toulon less than a fortnight after the death of Christophe Dominici – a hero at both clubs. There has been talk the two sides should play for the Christophe Dominici Cup. That’s a trophy worth playing for.
“No matter what happens today, Galthie and France are the big winners”