The match between France and Italy, played on Sunday and counting for the first day of the Six Nations Tournament, turned to the advantage of the Blues. In pain, the XV of France won 29 to 24 against a brave team from Italy.
And for this first victory in this 2023 Tournament, the Blues can thank Matthieu Jalibert. Caught in the trap set by Italy, entangled in their indiscipline, the XV of France owed their salvation only to the opening half of the UBB, who had just entered the game, and a superb job by a another finisher, Romain Taofifenua, the hard-hitting second line of Lyon. Considered a luxury substitute with the Blues, Jalibert played his role wonderfully with his second international try, the first since November 2021 against Georgia.
The number
40. Already the most capped player in the group of Fabien Galthié, the center of Racing 92 Gaël Fickou (28 years old, 75 selections) became on Sunday the player of the XV of France having played the most matches in the Six Nations Tournament. A story that began at just eighteen years old, in March 2013, with a victory against Scotland (23-16). He has known three coaches since: Guy Novès, Jacques Brunel and Galthié.
The statement
“There is nothing to jump around after this victory. We were too undisciplined, we have to shoot more than twenty penalties (18), we know very well that at this level it is not playable and that We’re going to have to change things very quickly. We’re going to analyze it, but we weren’t able to stop this contagion which took hold of us from the start of the match. We obviously had words on that at half-time, we didn’t was unable to rectify the situation in real time so it will have to be done during the week.” Captain Antoine Dupont did not mince his words in the face of French indiscipline.