Gregory Alldritt and France ready to tackle ‘best enemies’ England
Gregory Alldritt insists France will feed off their supporters’ enthusiasm for ‘Le Crunch’ when they clash with England in Lyon on Saturday.
Les Bleus have a mathematical chance of winning the Guinness Six Nations title in the finale to the tournament but for their captain the encounter is as much about understanding its meaning for fans.
“In terms of rugby, it’s like any other match. We know for all our fans, all French people, they’re our best enemies. People love this match, which makes it a special moment too,” Alldritt said.
“We haven’t always managed to get our fans together and do what we’ve wanted to do on the field. Against England we have a chance to do that.
“We’re determined to put in a big performance to make them proud because we know it’s the end of the Six Nations and they will only see us again in the summer.”
France are odds-on favourites to prevail at Groupama Stadium, but Alldritt insists England’s bronze-medal finish at the World Cup is worthy of respect.
“Some said they had an easier side of the draw, but it’s never easy to finish third,” Alldritt said.
“You have to be rigorous and resilient throughout the competition, so congratulations to them for that. During this Six Nations they have had good and less good, a bit like us.
“They proved last weekend that they could go against the best and they were slowly getting back to the standard we expect from them.”
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Sam Cane is a superstar, someone New Zealand should be proud of. How unfair to always compare him to Richie, like saying Mother Theresa is ok, but she's no Jesus. Let's not forget, Sam started in 2012 around the time Richie was probably starting to think, this will be my last world cup cycle if you think he didn't have a big say in who the backup 7 would be and who was best to take over from him after 2015 then you don't understand how clever and forward thinking the man was. Sam Cane was Richie's choice, as apprentice and replacement. Not many people can say they are a better judg Anyone who understands rugby knows the loosies are a trio picked to complement each other, not 3 guys who score trys and make line breaks. No doubt Sam would love to be doing what Ardie does, that's not what was required of him. He had to hit rucks hard , force turnovers and tackle like an animal On defence, that's what he did.
Go to commentsThis article overlooks how the 9 position has developed to be a playmaker, which these 2 are both excellent at. Defences are so good now there is not the luxury of going 9 -> 10 on every play. Playing “off 9” as they say, has become very commonplace these days, but 10+ years ago you hardly saw this. Boiling the great modern 9s down to box kicking doesn’t do justice to how good the great ones have become. Dupont would be the first choice 10 in most teams in the world, JGP pops up in places you would never expect a 9 to be.
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