From our special correspondent in Dublin,
The sentence is pronounced by Anthony Jelonch in the bowels of the Aviva Stadium, after the superb fight won by Ireland, No. 1 worldwide, against France, his runner-up (32-19). It may seem paradoxical. However, we can see exactly what the 3rd line means, and it’s a little scary, when we know that the Blues are likely to get stuck with the Greens this fall, from the quarter-finals of “their” World Cup : “We take 30 points, but we are not far off. »
“We have nothing to be ashamed of this defeat”, continues the Gers tractor in the same vein, before giving the key to this “final” of the Six Nations Tournament disputed from the second day: “They made us play at us, we defended well but after a while we cracked. »
Because this is Ireland. A terrible machine to stifle the opponent, with an oppressive kicking game, even when the team is without holders of the caliber of Sheehan, Furlong, Gibson-Park and Henshaw, all injured. A machine that punishes the opponent on almost every wandering – when France leaves too much ammunition on the way – and seems launched while honking on the road to a fourth Grand Slam, after 1948, 2009 and 2018.
Much better than in Italy, but not enough
And yet, God knows that the Blues have raised the bar, six days after the sad copy returned to Rome, despite the victory (24-29). Discipline ? The number of fouls fell from 18 to 7 (still with a yellow card as a bonus for Atonio), the same total as during the success against the XV du Clover last year in Saint-Denis (30-24). Defense ? The Blues have succeeded in 92% of their tackles, the prize going to the 2nd line Thibaud Flament (28 out of 28!). The conquest also ensured.
But Fabien Galthié’s men suffered a lot near their line and only had to their self-sacrifice to concede “only” four tries, including the last assassin of Garry Ringrose (72nd). “Until then, we are in the game and there is a match, loose the French coach. We’re not far. If we score the points in our highlights, it’s not the same story. »
With “if”, his team would have left Dublin with a 15th victory in a row, the honorary status of planetary No. 1, and an almost clear view of a second Grand Slam in a row.
“We had a strong match in all sectors but there are still details to settle if we want to hang the first world team, loose Romain Ntamack, black eye and clenched jaw. We held the shock for 80 minutes. However, we are in a mess, while I have the impression that they can play two more days. But they have played three or four times fewer games than us at this stage of the season. »
According to Galthié, Antoine Dupont was so exhausted from having run and kneaded the Irish stew on the lawn of the Aviva Stadium that the captain, not elsewhere the victim of a “blow in the stomach”, did not even been able to come and talk to the press, as protocol dictates… We come back to the debate on the advantage in this area of provincial rugby (in particular Leinster, the main supplier of the national team, with the automatisms that go with it), where the internationals are much more spared than in our grueling Top 14. Not to mention that Ireland had played on Saturday, for their walk in Cardiff (10-34), which gave them one more day of recovery than France .
A saving preparation?
The situation will have changed when attacking the World Cup (September 8 – October 28) since the Blues will have two and a half months to prepare for the biggest challenge of their career. That said, the Irish are not going to spend their summer getting sunburned at Narbonne Plage…
By the way, what do the heroes of the day say about this demonstration against a team that had beaten them in the previous three face-to-face meetings? “Even if we won and we finished with five points, I never felt that we were comfortable”, assures the captain and striker Jonathan Sextonthat his 37 years and an increasingly reluctant physique could not carry beyond the 48th minute.
Soon a record for Johnny Sexton
“But what a game! also dropped the future record holder for the number of points in the Tournament (he is only 7 points from the 557 of his compatriot Ronan O’Gara). Coach Andy Farrell describes this game as “titanic”. “It’s our strength of character that allows us to win: the fight, the will to fight for each other, to show unity and our spirit. We wanted to show it to everyone in rugby. »
The latter already did not doubt for a moment the qualities of a team that we imagine badly stopped by Italy, Scotland (although, in Murrayfield…) or England, even if all the Blues who appeared in front of the press had given themselves the word to express this hypothesis and maintain hope.
In the medium term, Ireland is even THE big favorite for the next World Cup, a competition where it has never reached the semi-finals. “Sooner or later, we will have a [nouveau] match to play against them”, predicts Gaël Fickou. If it is in the quarter on October 14 or 15 in Saint-Denis, we do not promise you to bet our Livret A on the tricolor center and his people.