“There is incredible action”, the fantastic relaunch of Romain Ntamack as if you were there

0

At the Stade de France,

The French flair set off again for a triumphant chariot ride, spinning complexes in Ben-Hur himself. Moonwalk until the 60th minute of a match that began to feel the big disappointment for our Blues, who had done everything as usual: a thunderous start, the best in their history against the Blacks (24-6) , then the sweeties that set in when you have to keep the score. More than two points ahead of the hour (27-25), and a kick to follow from Barrett over the tricolor defense which still makes us slam the butt.

First on the ball one or two meters from the in-goal with a black tide on the coat in the second, Romain Ntamack then has three solutions for a normal type.

> Make a huget-style cagade, miss the ball, and offer 7 points to Blacks in stride

> Do not be surprised by the rebound and flatten in its goal, even if it means delaying the deadline (scrum at five meters for the Neo-Z).

> Get into the end goal, return to 4th gear and release anywhere with your wrong foot, the left, undoubtedly up to 30 meters, in the best of cases.

But it turns out, you see, that Romain Ntamack is not a guy like you and me. He’s more handsome already, and then he has the confidence of well-born people in rugby. Competition with Jalibert, who places him at the center temporarily? Not a word higher than the other, waiting for the right moment. His first half had already given birth to some small wonders, including this little indoor race to plant the most tricolor test of the evening (12th). But then what about this five-star decision making in his in-goal, when three adversaries arrive on him?

  • The first, Weber, is eliminated with a small body feint from the back, like the matadors who are clever to approach the beast without looking at it.
  • The second, Mo’Unga, is the best placed to stop him, but the opener of the Blacks knows how to fuss with his vis-à-vis like a small insect that comes crashing into the windshield of a car. the countryside.
  • The third, Barrett, rear by trade and therefore faster at the withers, is dropped off at the quilt of the rest area like an old dog that has been abandoned.

And it’s not over. Now launched like a hornet in his 22, Ntamack, who still has 12 Neo-Z to humiliate on the action, which is a lot, waits for the perfect timing to serve Melvyn Jaminet with a blind pass to whip his nipples with pleasure . “I shouted with all my strength, it was magic”, smiles Cyril Baille, who joined the French bench a little earlier. 80 meters later, Savea throws himself like a mess to prevent a quick release on the balck line, yellow card, penalty for Melvyn, arrivederci Roma. Blacks are cooked from home (30-25, then 40-25).

“We had decided to chase away all the balloons”

Not crazy, Fabien Galthié brings all this back to the collective, as a good self-respecting coach: “We had decided to chase all playable balls even in our camp, and there were two other French players who had come down around Romain and who ‘were positioned around him to give him options. It allowed him to trigger this relaunch which brought us back to the All Blacks line ”.

The two Frenchmen in question, Dupont and Jaminet, indeed make it possible to give the stroke of genius Ntamack another dimension, in particular the scrum half of the Blues, to the volume of race still so stratospheric. “We were starting to suffer, the New Zealand kicking game is very well typed … it’s true that we are several to give up to give comfort to Romain, but it is he who plays very well the blow by deciding to raise ».

Blacks knocked out for good

“He’s coming out of a pretty incredible situation by avoiding these two tackles,” Jaminet said, “so I tell myself that I have to give everything to be supportive and let go of the horses. I see Toto [Dupont] inside, I don’t know if it’s the right choice to give him or to chase after, but the Blacks have very fast players, I couldn’t see myself scoring alone ”. Neither do we, even if this relaunch, frankly, would have deserved the same mythical crown. that the test of the end of the world from St. Andrew to Auckland in another century.

This moment of madness labeled 100% French-flair-cassoulet-Stade Toulousain, this “surge of pride”, nicely says Dupont who also has the sense of the formula, allowed to reverse a balance of power which nevertheless smelled of already seen, these Blues who screwed up their end of the match like grown-ups. “We were in a very short time, it was very surprising what happened to us at this point in the match, recognizes Galthié. And on the incredible action of Romain, it is as if the players behind had decided to say “stop, it is over, we take back control of the match”. Come on, let’s add it to the nostalgia compilation for winter evenings.


source site