Rating every player from France’s inconsistent Six Nations campaign :

Following the conclusion of the 2024 Six Nations, we rated all the players who featured in the Championship. Next up, France.

It was a campaign of highs and lows for Les Bleus who ultimately finished second overall despite a heavy home loss to Ireland and a draw with Italy. Fabien Galthie’s charges edged Scotland in round two and looked sharper in their victory over Wales before pipping England with the final kick of the tournament. We run through their side, giving ratings out of 10.

Outside backs

Thomas Ramos: Hard to consider him only as an outside back, given he played half the tournament at ten. However, his personal performance went from horrendous in defence to remarkable at times in attack. His speculative fly hack for the killer try in Lyon summed up Ramos- opportunistic but flawed. 6

Damian Penaud: An absolute Rolls-Royce of a wing, it says a lot about Penaud that he hardly troubled the scoreboard by his high standards yet dominated virtually every carrying and try creation stat in the tournament. An all-time great of French rugby, he’s close to becoming an all-time great of the game. 8

Louis Bielle-Biarrey: Had his moments, especially in Cardiff when his elusive running down the left flank caused Wales a lot of issues. He should have started earlier in the tournament and is developing into a fine player. 6

Matthis Lebel: Recalled by France on his club form, he struggled to fire a shot and the disaster in Lille saw him dumped from the match day 23. 4

Leo Barre: Huge potential, and his performance against England demonstrated his class and poise on the ball. He’s less frenetic and a little calmer than some of the options we’ve seen in the blue 15 shirt, and his first forays into test rugby showed extreme promise. 7

Our Six Nations player rating key.

Centres

Gael Fickou: France’s season was almost personified by Fickou himself, who snared three tries but let in as many more as he ran brilliantly but defended like a pale imitation of the giant we’ve seen in recent times. A strange season for someone approaching a cap century, but given he didn’t have a regular midfield partner, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. 6

Jonathan Danty Poor. Once again, his upright tackle technique made him see red. One wonders if it’s a card too many for this brilliant centre. He needs to sort his stuff out. 3

Nicolas Depoortere: With ball in hand, Depoortere showed threat and no lack of pace, but, like Fickou, far too many defensive howlers at crucial moments has cost him a couple of marks. Needs to sort out his spacing and communication on the other side of the ball. 5

Yoram Moefana: He is a shadow of the player we see week in and week out for Bordeaux when it comes to the blue jersey. He’s not quite fast enough for a wing, not physical enough for a centre; he’s in danger of losing the credit he built up as a free runner with the U20s and yet again failed to impose himself at test level. 4

Halfbacks

France scrum-half…