After spending a little over five minutes in front of the cameras in the mixed zone of the Stade de France, Charles Ollivon took a blow to the head when he saw the mass of print and web journalists waiting for him, for the to react to the crazy evening which had just set the Stade de France ablaze. Looking crestfallen, the great Charles first tried to turn on his heels before being caught by the sleeve by an official, asking him to make a last little effort.
“Quick guys please, I can’t take it anymore!“And the Toulonnais, best tackler of the match with Grégory Alldritt (15/16), indeed remained a little less than three minutes watch in hand before slipping away to a well-deserved rest.I am dead, he dropped in the preamble, just to emphasize a little more on the tough physical and mental ordeal he had just gone through. For having spoken about it with certain All Blacks, he adds, “It’s a match that has put all the organisms to the test. We are all a little chewed up at the end of the match. After eighty minutes of this level, we come out blunted and it’s a bit normal. We will now have to recover, which is easier after a victory, and return to battle.”
We don’t have much energy left in the body
Gabin Villière lingered a little longer in front of the press but his message was essentially similar to that of his number 7.We are tired, even empty. It was very hard, physically and mentally exhausting because we had been waiting for this match for a long time. We savored this victory in the locker room but we don’t have much energy left in our body, we are really drained“.
Two factors quite easily explain such a state of exhaustion. The first is linked to the level of intensity imposed by the All Blacks, especially in the first period with game launches executed at incredible speed. To the point that it simply goes too fast for the partners of Antoine Dupont. A figure reflects this suffering: in the first period, the Kiwis beat 22 French defenders. But failing to be able to keep up, Fabien Galthié’s men ran, a lot, and endeavored to turn their backs in the heart of the oil spill. To hang on until their adversaries loosened their terrible vice to rebel, such was the plan built in haste to avoid defeat.
A phenomenal amount of energy, deployed first not to crack and then to make the difference in the last twenty minutes. Like what Grégory Alldritt was able to provide, omnipresent in attack and defense. All in a still stifling heat, which certainly also explained the inability of the New Zealanders to maintain their breakneck pace over the entire match. Well prepared, as we had already seen in the last summer match against Australia two weeks ago (41-17), the Blues ended up stronger, also cheered up by the contribution of the bench.
Nothing seemed superfluous to defeat this team of All Blacks found compared to the giant with the foot of clay glimpsed two weeks earlier against the Springboks (35-7). With this big step for the first place in the group taken, the winners of Friday will now take the time to recharge the dead batteries and should leave it to others, or at least for the most part, to do the job against Uruguay and Namibia. More modest opponents to recover from this first out-of-category pass as a highly energy-intensive opening match.
“Strength of character is the hallmark of the Blues”