France’s emphatic Six Nations Grand Slam success has elevated Les Bleus to Rugby World Cup 2023 favourites. But is it too early to tell?
Timing is everything in elite sport and, depending on your viewpoint, France’s impressive rugby team is timing its run to Rugby World Cup 2023 success on home soil immaculately, or they are peaking too soon.
The forwards are powerful and in locks Paul Willemse and Cameron Woki they have a second row to compare to Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager, or Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick. Think of the Bok pack that won RWC 2019 — Kitshoff, Mtawarira, Du Toit, Etzebeth, Vermeulen, Kolisi, Marx, Mbonambi, De Jager and Malherbe will almost all go down as Springbok greats.
In 2021, many French Test players, including Dupont, were not released for the three-Test tour of Australia due to the maximum number of games they are allowed to play, and Covid restrictions. The three Tests were crammed into 11 days. Nine players from those two vintages — Demba Bamba, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Louis Carbonel, Kilian Geraci, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Romain Ntamack, Arthur Vincent, Cameron Woki and Hassane Kolingar — were capped by Galthié in his first year in charge.
He axed stalwarts such as Louis Picamoles and Maxime Medard and named 19 uncapped players in his first training squad. It was a bold approach, but one that is now paying off. France only trailed their opponents for a total of 13 minutes throughout the entire tournament. That happened in the opening game of their campaign, against Italy, and once they hit the front against the Azzurri in the 34th minute they never trailed again.
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