Japan: Why the magician Matthieu Jalibert is not close to starting in Blue

At the Toulouse Stadium,

Did the Stadium audience have a premonition this Sunday shortly before 2 p.m.? When the teams were announced before this France – Japan (35-17), the name of Matthew Jalibert rose almost as high in the applause meter as that of the local glories, whether they are coach (Servat) or players (Marchand, Jelonch, Ntamack, Ramos and the substitute Mauvaka). A rather surprising behavior in Toulouse, where chauvinism dresses in Red and Black while the opener evolves with the Bordeaux-Beglais rival and perfectly embodies the opposing player that we love to hate, like the Englishman Owen Farrell.

In the end, it was perfectly seen by the 30,000 spectators, as Jalibert’s entry, in the 57th minute, brought the match out of the damp torpor in which he had been basking since the kick-off. A true ode to joy, the Girondin zebulon was decisive in the last two French tries, signed Damian Penaud and Anthony Jelonch.

“He made a very, very good start, welcomed Fabien Galthié when distributing the good points. He played just with the foot and with the hand, with alternation, and gave a lot of air to our team. »

  • 61st: Jalibert kicks for himself. In the relay, Chalureau is too slow to conclude, but the action will lead to Penaud’s second try of the match
  • 67′: Mat’hypnotizes the Japanese defense thanks to its cheetah supports. In the end, Danty scores but the try is (logically) refused.
  • 70th: You wanted work-study? The UBB master player finds a very nice touch in the Japanese 22m.
  • 73rd: new kick for himself. The action ends with a try by Jelonch.
  • 76th: after a kick blocked by Ramos, Jalibert folded in his in-goal tries a desperado recovery and ends up making a pass to no one, in a dead ball. 5 meter scrum for Japan… Good OK, we forget that one.

Ntamack still in trouble

When the Bordeaux-Béglais opener entered the lawn, the Blues were certainly leading (21-10) but Romain Ntamack, more in demand than against Australia (30-29) and South Africa (30-26) , still struggling as much. His foot pass on Penaud’s first try (7th) weighs little compared to his hand faults or even this return directly to a dead ball (22nd).

Beyond this match completed with several stitches in the nose, the Toulousain, orphan for this home meeting of local icon Antoine Dupont (suspended), generally went through the three tests in November with difficulty. It must be said that the staff swung him as he came out of two months of ankle injury, without going through the Top 14 box.

Romain Ntamack missed his match. – Lionel Bonaventure / AFP

However, Galthié showed “no regrets” for having systematically established the hero of the victory against the Blacks last year, leaving his rival UBB the role of finisher (roughly 20 minutes against the Australia and Japan and 10 minutes against South Africa). “Roman was less bloody, that’s right, replied the master of the blue clocks when questioned by a colleague. This is part of the complementarity between Romain and Matthieu in this competition. Basically: Jalibert, more explosive but probably less metronome than Ntamack, is the ideal “finisher”, in the Newspeak of the XV of France, to weigh on tired defenses, during the second half.

“He confirms all the good that we think of him,” added Galthié after this third successful comeback. While specifying: “we were not mistaken about building a team in the continuity of the Six Nations Tournament and reintegrating Matthieu who was coming out of a blank year and who we felt was getting back in shape. “Or, in a variation of the previous sentence:” Matthieu confirms his return to the best level after a difficult year where he suffered a lot of injuries, and a difficult season with his club. »

Fabien Galthié’s “duty of memory”

Between the interminable tear in the thigh which deprived him of the entire Tournament, and therefore of the Grand Slam, and the confusion with his now ex-manager Christophe Urios at UBB, Jalibert has indeed disappeared from the radar international between last year’s autumn tour and the one in Japan this summer. But he always remained in the minds of the staff of the XV of France the number 2 in the hierarchy. And he probably still is today because of the “duty of memory” mentioned by the coach after the fight against the Boks in Marseille, recalling that “Roman [avait] carried the team very, very high. »

The time is therefore no longer for head-on competition between the two young openers (Jalibert is 24, Ntamack 23) nor for the “Jalimack” association, with the Girondin in 10 and the Haut-Garonnais in the center, as in last November against Argentina (29-20) then Georgia (41-15). The current historic series of 13 victories in a row and the prospect of a first world title at home in less than a year should make it possible to perpetuate the current formula, despite the egos of each other.

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