The link between the French and the Blues du XV remains intact: 75% of French people were proud of their team against South Africa and only 24% were disappointed by their premature elimination in the quarter-final of the World Cup. This is what emerges from a survey carried out by Odoxa for Winamax and RTL. This survey was carried out online on October 18 and 19 among 1,005 people and a representative sample of the French population aged 18 and over. Among these respondents are 544 rugby fans.
The French, supports the survey, “do not associate this premature elimination with a poor performance of the XV of France”. For them, the problem lies with the refereeing and the decisions of New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe: “for 54% of French people, 70% of rugby fans and 76% of fans of the discipline, the defeat is due to refereeing errors” insists the survey which specifies that the French also dismiss the performance of the XV of France. “The players did not miss their quarter-final (66%) and Fabien Galthié (84%) made no mistake in his coaching,” specifies Odoxa.
World Rugby, which organizes this World Cup, has commissioned supervisors to review the quarter-final. To agree with the respondents, they recognized five major refereeing errors: three against the Blues, two against the Boks. “Despite the tragic outcome of this lost game (28-29), the players were not unworthy: 75% of French people and 91% of rugby fans say that they were proud of this French team, insists the polling institute in its commentary. And still with the idea that the national public has absolutely not broken with the Blues, only 24% of French people and 30% of rugby fans declare that they were disappointed with their performance. »
New Zealand are now favorites
Logically, if they do not criticize the Blues much, the French people interviewed are therefore in favor of maintaining Fabien Galthié in his post. “The French (87%) and rugby fans (94%) are unanimously satisfied with the extension of Fabien Galthié’s mandate, which they consider to be a good decision,” indicates Odoxa. The former player’s next challenge will be to win the Six Nations Tournament in 2024 to forget the disappointment. The French are mostly certain that he will succeed. “77% of French people and 90% of rugby fans see the Blues winning the Six Nations Tournament in 2024, probably comforted by the feeling that their great continental rival, Ireland, appears to them to be an accessible team after its defeat against the All Blacks. And the failure to win a first World Cup is only a postponement, 71% of French people and 80% of rugby fans think that the French team will be able to win the next competition which will take place in 2027” analyzes Erwan Lestrohan , the Consulting Director at Odoxa.
Another figure to note from this survey is the country’s passion confirmed for several weeks for this World Cup. “The public was greatly won over by this World Cup which notably saw the share of rugby fans (51%) increase by 8 points in the population in one month. And even after the exit of the Blues, national enthusiasm remains high: 53% of French people plan to continue following the competition, a level almost equivalent to the share of those who planned to follow it before the opening match against the Nouvelle -Zealand (57%) a sign of interest that is not weakening. And the French public seems to have extended its interest in the competition beyond just the matches of the French XV: only 35% of French people planned to follow the matches not involving the French team at the start of the World Cup” confirms the polling institute. He also specifies that the country does not intend to lose interest in the final matches of the tournament. “Among the French, 22% intend to watch only the final and a slightly higher share (31%) intend to follow the next matches. Rugby fans will also remain very engaged for the semi-finals and the final: 83% of them plan to follow the next matches of the tournament. »
And now that the Blues will do like them by watching the final on TV, the French have a favorite: New Zealand. “On the eve of the semi-finals, the French public made the All Blacks, recent defeaters of Ireland whom they designated as favorites behind the Blues, their favorite for the final victory. 44% of French people and 48% of rugby fans see them winning the World Cup compared to 29% and 33% who predict a victory for South Africa while England (14% and 9%) and Argentina (9% and 9%) are more of an outsider,” concludes Erwan Lestrohan.
