My team of 2020...and nearly all are French!
Normally, team-ofthe-year lists are left until the end of the season and – who knows? – there may be another one of these at the end of June when this Top 14 season finally ends. But, 2020 has been such an unusual year across the board – and, given the turnaround in French fortunes, probably would have been regardless of the pandemic – that it somehow seems strangely appropriate to do one now.
So, here it is. My Top 14 team of 2020. Feel free to disagree with it.
It’s interesting that, not so very long ago, it would have contained rather more than just the three imports, one of whom now plays in the Premiership. That’s JIFF regulations for you and proves that – on the pitch at least – French rugby is in better-than decent health. Most of the players are under 30, too.
15. Brice Dulin
From the international wilderness to two player of the match performances and a player of the tournament award for France this autumn after switching from Racing 92 to La Rochelle. Dulin, left, is probably still behind the injured Anthony Bouthier and Teddy Ramos in Fabien Galthie’s full-back pecking order – but he’s made 15 a pleasant selection problem.
14. Teddy Thomas
One of the great frustrations in French rugby. Thomas, right, is impossibly quick, and can be astoundingly good – but he can also sometimes drift into anonymity, hence his stop-start international career. Still, he’s a bar-emptying player when he’s on fire, which is why he’s listed here. And, one day, he may do defenders the decency of at least looking like he’s trying as he’s cruising past them.
13. Virimi Vakatawa
The development of Vakatawa, above next column, from Sevens starlet to full international winger to world-beating centre has taken a few years, but he’s at the peak of his powers right now for club and country. No wonder interest in his signature was stratospheric before he re-signed for Racing 92.
12. Semi Radradra
Admit it. If you could have Semi Radradra, right, in your team of 2020, you would. And we can, because he was at Bordeaux for the first couple of months of this coronavirus-hit season. So, we’re having him.
11. Cheslin Kolbe
It was in Toulouse that the legend of Kolbe was born, after he took a punt on moving to France having been told he was ‘too small’ to challenge for a Springboks jersey. The rest is World Cup-winning history – and the winger/fullback/centre/briefly in-match No.8 (really) is reaping the whirlwind of that gamble.
10. Matthieu Jalibert
What riches France currently have at 10, with Jalibert competing for the shirt with Romain Ntamack and Louis Carbonel. You already know that, in 2018, France U20 coaches moved Ntamack to 12 to accommodate Carbonel. The only reason either of them were there at all is that Jalibert was seriously injured on his senior international debut five months earlier.
9. Antoine Dupont
Really, what choice is there at this position?
The Baptistes, Serin and Couilloud, are brilliant and all, but Dupont, right, is challenging Aaron Smith for best scrum-half in the world. Watch Toulouse over the next few years. As well as Dupont, they have Theo Idjellidaine and Baptiste Germain coming through the ranks.
1. Cyril Baille
The current crop of French front row talent at Toulouse is freakish – Baille, Neti, Aldegheri, and Castets, with two Marchands and Mauvaka at hooker. There’s no wonder France keep plundering their 1, 2, 3 stocks. At 27, Baille, left, is the oldest of them, and a loosehead of rare talent who does the job in front of him without fuss.
2. Julien Marchand
The 25-year-old, right, is a natural-born leader, who has captained Toulouse for the past two years. Now, he’s made the step up to the national side, where he’s slipped into Guilhem Guirado’s boots ahead of long-term stand-in Camille Chat. He’s accurate in the lineout, and strong in the tight and the loose.
3. Demba Bamba
The stint in the Pro D2 should be a rite of passage for all young props with top-flight rugby ambitions. In 2018, fresh out of France’s U20s world championshipwinning side, Bamba, left, was already impressing the gnarliest of gnarly front row monsters in France’s second-tier with Brive with his strength and technique. He’s good already. He’s just going to get better.
4. Eben Etzebeth
Every team needs its enforcer. And who else would you turn to? The Springbok, below, needed no time to find a way into the hearts of Toulon fans when he joined the club after the
World Cup in Japan – scoring with his very first touch of the ball. Toulon’s love affair with big, bad Springbok locks continues – and you can’t blame them.
5. Baptiste Pesenti
Montpellier’s Paul Willemse may be Galthie’s first-choice five for France, but he’s pushed all the way by Pau’s massive lock Pesenti, below, who did more than just fill a hole during the Autumn Nations Cup. The second row remains something of an issue for Les Bleus, but there are Pesenti-sized hints that it won’t be that way for long.
6. Anthony Jelonch
There’s Francois Cros. There’s Cameron Woki. Both are hugely talented back rows who would grace just about any international side. But the 24-year-old Jelonch, above next column, was the only name on the shortlist when Toulouse started looking for a replacement for the retiring Jerome Kaino. It’s likely Kaino will join the staff at Toulouse – it’s scary to imagine how good that talented young back row could be under his guidance.
7. Sekou Macalou
A player with a truly mind-blowing level of talent. He’s quick, too – word is, over 100m Macalou is one of the fastest in the Stade Francais’ squad, including the backs. And he’s finally catching the eye of the right people. It’s just a slight shame he plays mostly in the same position as Les Bleus’ undisputed captain Charles Ollivon.
8. Matthieu Bastareaud
The switch from centre to back row has been the remaking of Bastareaud since his switch from Toulon to Lyon – via a sabbatical in New York. It would be churlish to suggest not moving him to the pack earlier was a missed opportunity, as he was misused at centre by successive international and club coaches. Importantly, the shy smile is back and it’s good to see.