Fatigued France below par in title defence : PlanetRugby

After two rounds of the Six Nations, the competition takes a break, allowing us to take stock and provide a report card for each team. Next up, it’s France.

Any season that follows an unbeaten Grand Slam year is always going to be judged in a back-to-back context, and that’s precisely France’s challenge in their 2023 Six Nations campaign, with the added spice of three fixtures on the road, including Ireland and England to add gradient to their uphill climb.

Sure, their Six Nations showing in 2022 was absolutely outstanding, but thereafter a tour to Japan was nothing more than a training run for their stars and their Autumn campaign was characterised by being pushed hard to the wire in matches their billing suggests they should have won comfortably. 

A spirited Italy could have taken the spoils in the opener in Rome as France finally won 29-24. The match against Ireland saw one of the most impressive performances by the hosts in recent times as the Irish continuity and structure disposed of Les Bleus 32-19.

With several key players missing, France’s established stars also seem to be something less than in prime form, but with the World Cup less than 150 days away, the key question is, are France in terminal decline or are they victims of their own domestic workload and a form blip?

Best player

Many judges would expect names such as Antoine Dupont or Damian Penaud to feature when singling out France’s best performer, and whilst they will always catch the eye, our pick is the impressive and improving Toulouse lock, Thibaud Flament, someone who wouldn’t be starting but for Cameron Woki’s long term injury.

Flament’s star has risen dramatically in the five years since he took up the sport in Belgium and went from a rather unlikely outing at ten in BUCS Four to starting in the second row for France against Argentina at the Stade de France via a spell in Argentina for a placement at the French embassy specifically to focus on rugby, bulking up and learning a different approach to the game.

His lineout work is always compelling, as befits a man of 6’8” tall, but since his debut, 14 tests have illustrated he’s a phenomenal ball player with a work rate comparable with any back row in the Six Nations. His Player of the Match performance against Italy underlined his all-round game, as he charged down for a try and was at the centre of everything his team did well.

In a season where France’s breakdown, lineout, and forward work has been below par by their exalted standards, Flament has made 43 tackles, taken 11 line outs and carried 15 times for over 100 metres. He may not be the flashiest player around, but right now, he’s just about France’s most effective forward.

Unsung star

In the absence of Jonathan Danty at 12, Gael Fickou’s workload has increased by some margin as he is fusing both the carrying duties of the big inside centre with his own defensive and offensive work at 13.

Fickou is a nuts and bolts…