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Year of Les Bleus put on hold
By Online Editors
The abrupt suspension of the Six Nations and other tournaments has certainly been felt worldwide.
Sport has always been a means to unify the world. Weekly thousands of fans flock together to witness athletes compete to be the best.
The highly competitive nature of sports allows athletes and supporters to openly despise an opponent – all in good spirit- and be extremely bias towards what you consider your own.
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And that is certainly true when it comes to the Northern Hemisphere’s most prestigious tournament, the Six Nations.
Expanded to six teams in 2000 – following its humble beginnings as a Home Nations (1883) and Four Nations (1910) tournament – the annual international competition has been a unifying vehicle for these countries.
However, the Six Nations has been left in turmoil, with the completion dates of the remaining fixtures still uncertain – to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reports suggest the Six Nations may resume late in October. However, that will mean that England will have to play five Tests in consecutive weeks, not good news for Eddie Jones and Co.
Heading into this 2020 edition of the competition, England were favourites to win this title, with the goal being to bag a Grand Slam.
Fresh from a World Cup Final defeat to South Africa in Japan, Eddie Jones’ men were in far better shape than their Northern Hemisphere counterparts.
Then that opening match happened and France managed to stun the world.
The young fearless French side made a huge statement and recorded a stunning 24-17 win over England at the Stade de France in Paris.
The win was the dawn of a new era under recently-appointed France coach Fabien Galthie.
What’s was even more impressive is that Galthie’s France XV featured just one player over the age of 30.
Their momentum did not stop there.
Les Bleus followed up their Round One performance with wins against Italy and a very experienced Wales team.
They were well on their way to claim a rare Grand Slam.
However, defeat to Scotland shattered those dreams.
France, who are in second place on the table, with 13 points, was scheduled to host Ireland at the Stade de France before the fixture got postponed when the French government banned all public gatherings of more than 1,000 people in a bid to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Since then the coronavirus has killed more than 1000 people in France, thus thinking or even preparing for rugby has become impossible.
Tournament organisers and World Rugby has been planning relentlessly to salvage some form of rugby for this year.
However, with the long break and the country’s ever-increasing death toll due to the virus, who knows what the state will be of Fabien Galthié’s squad upon resumption of the sport.
One certainly has to feel for the young France team, who could have been Six Nations champions.
- Leezil Hendricks/Rugby365
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Latest Comments
What Savea couldn't control was the use of the bench. There were a couple of home goals from Razor. Ratima has been poor this tour, while Roigard has been an unsurprising revelation. To pull Roigard so early, or at all, was a huge error. You have to wonder if Hotham should be #2 now behind Roigard after Ratima's poor showings.
Tuipulotu should have come on much earlier when the French were starting to gain some physical momentum, perhaps the front row should have been rotated sooner too, even though the starters were fantastic.
DMac needs to go to 10 when he come's off the bench. He's clearly offered a point of difference to the attack when he's come on at flyhalf in his last two cameos, which has helped close out games. Shift BB to fullback or give him a breather.
Barrett had a good game generally, but started to lose his head towards the end, which is a habit he's struggled to kick. Two kicks in an attempt to force miracle plays are evidence of this, one ended in a French try down the other end, the other very well could have ended the same way. The first being a woeful chip while hot on attack in the French 22, the next a woeful cross-kick to a heavily marked wing inside his own 22.
It's a habit that's been the bane of Barrett's game throughout his late career. Credit to him he's bought it into check somewhat, but when the pressure's on he looses his patience and can't help himself but try to force a miracle with the boot.
DMac has been excellent at closing out games at 10 in his last 3 outings, whether we're in front or behind. He offers a different picture to the opposition defence in the last 20 or 30 minutes, and it's something teams have struggled to deal with. And something that was very much missing yesterday.
Go to commentsVery poor execution in the last 10 minutes for ENG (RSA as well to be tbh outside of the defense)
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