The Stade de France froze, seeming not to understand. A bad dismissal, a missed tackle, a lost ball, a final quarter of an hour in apnea and it’s a world that collapses. The Blues will not touch the William Webb-Ellis Trophy. They will not even see the semi-finals of their World Cup, beaten by South Africa (28-29) after a match of rare intensity. We expected a shock. Frontal, devastating and joyful at the same time. He kept his promises. It was perhaps not as lively as the recital offered by the New Zealanders and the Irish the day before, on this same turf, and won by the All Blacks (28-24), but in terms of intensity and speed of play, it was very close. With a little extra power.
And there, surprise, the Springboks, erected as oversized scarecrows and considered the strongest on the oval planet, first found their masters. The Blues hit even harder. Percussive, piercing, they entered at a hundred miles an hour, heading straight towards almost disconcerted adversaries. They even allowed themselves to carry a maul almost twenty meters, a sort of small humiliation for a South African rugby player. A conductor was also needed. And they had it. Antoine Dupont, under his black helmet, showed why he was irreplaceable. So quick in his decisions, so surprising in his inspirations, so precise in his transmissions, whether they come from his hands or his feet, the captain illuminated this summit. And all this, just three weeks after having undergone surgery for a maxillo-zygomatic fracture.
In this whirlwind, Fabien Galthié’s players, excited, made the Springboks dizzy, scoring three tries in the first period but leaving their opponents on their heels, on counterattacks or balls left on the way. The Tricolores finally lost their chess game. The South African substitutes turned the match around and the strong try from the second row of Eben Etzebeth (67th) reversed the course of a match that they thought they would hold.
A unique meeting with their audience, their country, their history
However, everything seemed to be going well until then, since Fabien Galthié took office at the end of 2019. The results followed: Grand Slam in 2022, unprecedented series of 14 successes in a row, victories over all the major nations, including the opening match of the World Cup on September 8 against the All Blacks (27-13). The arrow of time dear to the coach seemed destined to reach its target. It broke cleanly. Strategic problem? South Africa, beaten last November (30-26) adapted and found a solution. Physical concern? Have the organizations been pushed too far? Ntamack and Willemse out during preparation, Baille and Danty, affected and returned during the competition, Marchand, injured in a thigh from the opening match, kept in the group but never returned… There was some damage among the Blues.
Data, at the center of performance, seems to have its flaws. The Tricolores, with their unlimited resources, were not above the Springboks, either physically or technically. They were even inferior in many respects. Popular enthusiasm will not have served to instill this extra soul. The Tricolores were unable to take advantage of these signs of support, these cacophonous surges which rang in their ears at each of their outings. They leave with the feeling of having missed a unique meeting with their audience. Their country. Their story. With the bitterness of having failed in their mission. We will have to recover from such disillusionment.
