You can change a winning team. When the All Blacks, their haka and their mystical black jersey emerge, we adapt. After having tried, the time of two meetings, the association of his two wisps opening halfs, Romain Ntamack and Matthieu Jalibert, Fabien Galthié returned to basics.
On the occasion of the reception of the New Zealanders, Saturday, November 20 (9 p.m., at the Stade de France), the coach of the XV of France made “A choice of performance”, privileging “Collective experience” to experiments. The association between Romain Ntamack and Matthieu Jalibert, both convincing in club as in the blue jersey, which made many observers salivate, is shelved for the moment.
Shifted to the center to leave room for his Bordeaux competitor during the two more or less successful matches against Argentina (29-20) and Georgia (41-15), Romain Ntamack found the opening alongside his friend from Toulouse Stadium, Antoine Dupont. Holder at the last Six Nations Tournament, and while he seemed to have taken the best on the offspring of Emile Ntamack, Matthieu Jalibert finds him, the bench – and a role of “finisher” dear to the coach – in the match the most prestigious of the year for the Blues.
Faced with the All Blacks, who fell last weekend in Ireland (20-29), the French staff opted for a combat XV. Rather than a second opener, shifted to the center in order to bring fluidity and variety to the game, Galthié and his assistants established Jonathan Danty, with a more impactful profile. “We chose this formula to attack the match, to perform”, assumes the French coach, to whom it has not escaped the fact that the victorious New Zealand teams have imposed themselves with a hard fight, and not by trying to take them to their own attacking game.
Borrowed on the meadow
“Collective experience is important in this kind of meeting, which is why associating Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack seems more logical to us”, also justified Fabien Galthié, who, before the first match of the autumn tour against Argentina, declared that Romain Ntamack and Matthieu Jalibert “Have been one of the best players in our championship for two years” and that he wanted “Trying to put the best in the field”.
The packages of the centers Arthur Vincent and Virimi Vakatawa for the fall tour had also convinced Galthié and Laurent Labit, the coach of the French attack, to try to align the Ntamack-Jalibert pair. With their specificities.
“Jalibert breaks the defense around him more, but in terms of managing a match, Ntamack is incredible, he makes the right choices”, analyzes the former international opening half Yann Delaigue Except that on the meadow, this association seemed borrowed, especially against the Pumas, each struggling to define his prerogatives.
the “Go back” operated by the French staff puzzled former coach Pierre Berbizier: “For me, the two preparation games were to assess this system, and against the All Blacks, it was an opportunity to see if it could work against a high level team. If you have a conviction, you have to take it to the end. ”
Strong supporter of 5/8e – the second opener is thus qualified in Anglo-Saxon rugby – for having put it in place during his period at the helm of the Blues (from 1991 to 1995), the technician considers that such a system “Allows you to alternate between hand and foot play”.
The All Blacks have the same debate
Pragmatic, the one who subsequently led the Italy team nevertheless calls to look at the team’s balance. “Often the best individuals do not make the best team”, emphasizes Pierre Berbizier. But the temptation is great, when the talents are there, to associate them.
Outside France, the debate on “First five-eight” is not new. The English were, for example, crowned world champions in 2003 by associating Johnny Wilkinson with Mike Catt. “Number 10 is the most important position in rugby, finds former All Blacks star Dan Carter interviewed this week in the team. This rich problem poses an interesting question: how to play with the two best players? “
Opener himself, he started in the center in the black jersey before establishing himself as the essential number 10 of the All Blacks. He observes the same debate at home as in France, where Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga have been competing for several years. If the first had found the post of opener during this autumn tour in the northern hemisphere, it is Mo’unga who will start against the Blues, after the concussion received by Barrett in Ireland.
Will we soon see the two French players lined up together, or will the test wither, dead leaf of an autumn tour? If every decision made is “Frozen, solid and indisputable”, insists Fabien Galthié, he does not forbid himself anything. “Since the start of our mandate [il y a deux ans], we try to be consistent. But this match is not an end, this team will continue to evolve. ”
If he lines up behind the coach’s choice, “The one who has the players on a daily basis”, for Yann Delaigue, the Blues have everything to gain from “Keep this option in the back of your mind, and try it again to have some common experience. “
To arrive ready for the 2023 World Cup, which begins in less than two years in France – and against the same All Blacks -, the former opener believes that the Blues should not rule out any track allowing them to vary their game. “Jalibert-Ntamack can be an interesting offensive variant, but two games where it did not really work is not enough: we will have to review them”. Before thinking about it, the XV of France wants to overcome New Zealand.