“The French public are loving having les Bleus back”
NO BEATING around le bush. Over the past 15 years, French people have thought the national team was a bit crap.
Under the cadre of Marc Lièvremont, Philippe Saint-André, Guy Novès and then Jacques Brunel, it was really, really poor at times. Which was stunning considering the reservoir of talent they’ve got in France. Rugby pigs are very proud of their Top 14 and it always has a few star teams that function really well. There are scraps. Amazing crowds. Big TV audiences. It’s ceaselessly huge for fans but the France team had turned into an embarrassment.
When it came to playing against Ireland, England or anyone from the southern hemisphere, back then they were incredibly shoddy and it almost felt like a hindrance for players to be going into the national camp. I know players who were a bit sheepish about joining up with the team. Especially when their club had been flying high and then they’d go and be humiliated by New Zealand by 50 points. That’s obviously all changed recently! Fortunes flip with a good coaching team. Forget “which France will show up?” Under Fabien Galthié, they’re now a well-organised team that makes it easy for individuals to flourish. They play collectively, with a game plan, are dangerous offensively and solid in defence. The French public are loving having lesBleus back.
Are they looked at slightly differently in different parts of their world? Yes, absolutely. Most of France has the national sport as football. They’ve got handball and volleyball and the basketball league is massive. But in the South of France, rugby is the top sport by a country mile. It has always puzzled me as to why France always play their Tests in Paris. As much as the nation’s capital is a big ol’, beautiful city, the Stade de France is probably the worst Six Nations stadium to play at.
All the rugby crowds and passion are in the South of France. So for a long time, they’ve talked about taking games to Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux – which they did recently with a few Tests. In the autumn they duked it out with Georgia in Bordeaux. Stars would get a kick out of playing in the South, no doubt.
The realisation for the wider republic is that the French rugby team should be in the top three of the Six Nations every single year. They have an expectation back about them. Which is, if you’ll allow me to age myself, prettycool.
I’m thinking of people who are 35 years old or above, who have all these bleu- tinted memories of gorgeous running rugby and French Flair®. We haven’t had that for so long and now it feels like a gift for the global game.
They’re a genuine threat to the likes of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, who they blew off the pitch in the autumn. Last summer in Australia, they won a Test, and lost really narrowly in the other two, with essentially a B/C side. They took England close at Twickenham with a B team as well.
So the depth of quality developed through their club rugby, with an emergence of loads of young kids getting game time, is superb now.
However, with expectation comes demands. The jewel in the crown now would be the Six Nations title, and Galthié has said they’re ready to win something. The problem for them is that so many others – Ireland, England and Scotland – have taken a step up too. But there is confidence now within the French public, while in years gone by they had all the hope of a snowball in summertime St Tropez.
And the players love being part of it again. A France call-up used to be like chugging from the poisoned chalice, but the international players now talk of the environment in glowing terms. And while the French press can be vicious, the players play without fear. There’s a massive buzz internally and on the streets.
This outfit are held in high regard and are being shown a respect they haven’t had for nearly two decades.