The Six Nations Tournament will live a moment of history this Saturday, with this France – Ireland in an Aviva Stadium in Dublin filled to the sky by nearly 52,000 souls. For the first time, a match of the venerable “northern” competition will oppose the two best teams in the world, according to World Rugby rankings, which was until recently crushed by the South: by the All Blacks especially, and by the Springboks, sometimes. The best player on the planet oval in 2022 – pruner Josh van der Flier – faces his predecessor – the genius Antoine Dupont. A team that remains on 12 victories at home rubs shoulders with a formation that has just aligned 14 successes in a row…
We stop there the statistics and sentences worthy of a blockbuster poster, like the one broadcast on social networks by World Rugby, the international federation, with captains Johnny Sexton and Dupont in the spotlight. The Toulouse scrum-half is alone in trying to calm the excitement. “The first against the second, it can make you salivate, but it is only the second match of the Tournament, tried this Friday the captain of Blues revenge after a first success certainly improved in Italy [24-29]but badly crossed out [18 pénalités concédées]. There are still three games after. It’s not a final at all. »
Sorry Antoine, but we’re still going to ignite, with Fabien Galthié’s prose as fuel. “Welcome to the sublime, the magnificent! exclaimed the Lotoise reincarnation of the romantic poet Lamartine on Thursday. Who wants to switch places at kick-off? There aren’t many players who say they don’t want to go. ” Or, in a more pragmatic version: “He is one of the most beautiful opponents faced in 32 games [depuis le début du mandat de Galthié, lors du Tournoi 2020]. This is our fourth meeting, we are getting to know each other well. »
The Blues won the first three: 35-27 in 2020, during a match at the Stade de France postponed to the end of October due to Covid, 13-15 in 2021 in an Aviva Stadium behind closed doors, again for health reasons , and 30-24 last year in Saint-Denis, after a very high level duel. But this time, the men trained by Andy Farrell “are largely favourites”, as Romain Ntamack points out.
The Irish executioners of the All Blacks
A classic way for the Toulouse opener to put pressure on the opponent, but not only. After all, we are talking about a formation capable of beating New Zealand twice in a row at home, last summer (12-23 then 22-32). This feat, never accomplished by a team since France in 1994, had allowed the Irish to steal the first place in the world from the same French.
“Yes, we are favourites, assumes Bernard Jackman, former international hooker of Leinster, before coaching Grenoble from 2011 to 2017. Sexton will play when he missed the last two games against you and for us, it is the most important player. France and Ireland are clearly the two best teams in the world. But who is the best? We will know more on Saturday. »
Thank you Bernard for the teaser, we won’t do better. And above all, don’t see in this “ignition” a purely European fad. “Here, the kick-off is at 3:15 am, and I think a lot of people will set their alarm clocks,” smiles Kimberlee Downs, sports journalist for the New Zealand television channel 1News. During a World Cup year, interest in the Six Nations grew enormously in the country. Especially since this time, the All Blacks will play against France in the opening match, and they can then cross paths with Ireland. »
“The ranking does not lie”
And even if the “All Blacks” are part of the Kiwi identity, our colleague concedes that “these two teams are currently the best in the world” and puts a coin on Ireland this Saturday. Across the Tasman Sea, Jim Tucker shares this opinion. “I will always say that the Blacks are the team to beat in world rugby, but the ranking [de World Rugby] does not lie, launches the Australian reporter, who has covered seven World Cups. Because Ireland, four times, and France, once, have won against New Zealand since the last World Cup [en 2019 au Japon]. Just for this dominance over the New Zealanders, the Irish deserve to be No. 1.”
Although the XV lives in the shadow of the treizist cousin in the land of Margot Robbie and Crocodile Dundee, enthusiasts will also brave the jet lag there, assures Jim Tucker, “to watch rugby played at its best level”.
In Brisbane as in Auckland, Cork, Toulouse or London, we will therefore count the penalties assessed this Saturday by Johnny Sexton, who is only 14 points from his compatriot Ronan O’Gara (557), the Tournament record holder. At 37, the opening half with 110 caps, an incredible strategist, still has no equivalent in Ireland, and not much more elsewhere.
Very little used by his province of Leinster, the main supplier of the selection who watches over him like Scrooge on his gold bars, this “sort of player-coach”, according to the manager of the Blues Raphaël Ibanez, will hold his place well . It had been an uncertain time, between a crutch contracted last Saturday during the Wales demonstration (10-34) and yet another visibly convincing concussion protocol.
The best Irish team of all time?
The silver-tempered maestro will animate a score of austere beauty but terribly effective, inspired by former coach Joe Schmidt from 2013 to 2019 (three victories in the Six Nations Tournament, including a Grand Slam in 2018): a planned game with few passes, a little more creative however under the Farrell era, and incredible velocity on the rucks, a sector where the Blues were penalized so much on Sunday in Rome.
The French will want to prove in Dublin that they have understood the lesson of refereeing, a sine qua non condition to continue dreaming of a second Grand Slam in a row, unprecedented since the arrival of Italy in 2000. The Irish are aiming for to them a fourth “perfect” in the Tournament, after 1948, 2009 and 2018, to go down in the history of their sport and their country.
See you at the World Cup
“There are a number of teams that can claim to be the greatest Irish team of all time,” said Feargal O’Rourke, an Emerald Isle rugby historian who includes the tough Willie- John McBride, in the 1970s. But the current selection has the possibility of enthroning itself in the pantheon, without discussion, if it makes the Grand Slam this year before reaching the semis, the final or winning the World Cup. »
Because for the time being, as incredible as it may seem, the XV at Clover has never managed to integrate the last four of a World Cup. Note, France played three finals, in 1987, 1999 and 2011, without managing to win the bet. But before dreaming of a coronation in Saint-Denis on October 28, the two most serious favorites have a score to settle this Saturday. And it should be worth it to shorten his nap or his night, depending on the time zone.