It is rare for an XV of France to be favorite before facing New Zealand. However, the Bleuets fully assumed their status on Thursday during the second day of the Under-20 World Cup in South Africa. Already wide winners of the Japanese (75-12), the teammates of captain Lenny Nouchi dominated the Baby Blacks, in the rain and on the rutted ground of Paarl (35-14). They were already leading 21-0 at halftime, after tries from Théo Attissogbé (9th), Posolo Tuilagi (21st) and Baptiste Jauneau (32nd).
The same Tuilagi worsened the score shortly after the recovery (44th), still on the ball carried. Absent from the first match, because retained in France because of a visa problem, the colossal 2nd line of Perpignan (1.92 m, 145 kg), embodied the overpower of the French pack.
Coming from an illustrious family of rugby players, including his father Henry, a former Samoan international, “Junior” was born in 2004, and therefore outclassed in the middle of the 2003 generation… More than promising for a tricolor rugby eager for “big men” like the Toulousain Emmanuel Meafou, who will not ultimately be selectable for the Senior World Cup, in France.
The Welsh before the semi-finals
The second period of the young French was less glorious than the first, with two yellow cards for Jauneau (52nd) and Paul Costes (58th), while the opposing winger Macca Springer could have taken a red instead of a yellow for his elbow forward in the glottis of Attissogbé (54th). The Baby Blacks took advantage of this slack to score two tries (penalty in the 59th, Lakai in the 66th), before Liufau (68th) gave the Bleuets some fresh air.
The double title holders, crowned in 2018 and 2019 before the long four-year parenthesis due to Covid, pose as the big favorites for the treble. They now have an appointment against Wales on Tuesday, for the last group day, before the semi-finals.