The good news is Ireland have won the last two Six Nations titles. The bad news is that as a result France haven’t won the title since their Grand Slam in 2022. A rugby nation expects and all that.
“Absolutely I feel the expectations of the French public,” said head coach Fabien Galthié at Tuesday’s Six Nations launch in Rome. “But it’s a good pressure and I enjoy the pressure. Yes, they have been very demanding but they have good reasons to be so.
“Rugby is the most popular sport in France, more so than football. Rugby is the 10th biggest sport in France in respect of the number of registered players, but we are the most watched sport on television and we find it very stimulating and very pleasant.”
Who will win the Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup?
That grand slam in 2022 remains the only title in Galthié's tenure, and he has been supported by the French federation more than any other head coach of Les Bleus. Staggeringly, that title is their only one since 2010. Galthié is contracted through to the next World Cup but his record is compounded by the huge anti-climax of a quarter-final defeat on home soil against South Africa.
French rugby was nursing a collective hangover for much of last season as a consequence, and certainly so in the Six Nations.
After their opening loss to Ireland in Marseilles, France were hugely fortunate to beat Scotland in Murrayfield and draw with Italy in Lyon, and even after a restorative win in Cardiff, they only beat England 33-31 in Lyon.
France face their trickier biennial Six Nations itinerary in oddly numbered years, with England in Twickenham and Ireland in the Aviva Stadium. Of their six titles since the expansion to the Six Nations, France have won only one championship in odd years.
After kicking off the tournament at home to Wales next Friday night, France have successive away games against England, Italy and Ireland before finishing off at home to Scotland.
Yet France, at 17/10, are marginal favourites ahead of Ireland (7/4), with England at 4/1 and Scotland 6/1. Rightly so for a variety of reasons, the first and foremost being the return of Antoine Dupont. He missed the whole of last season’s Six Nations to focus on his hugely successful pursuit of golden Olympic glory with the French Sevens team on an epic night in the Stade de France.
“It was not easy to watch the guys on TV but I had other objectives. I’m happy to be back in this beautiful tournament,” Dupont said in Rome when surrounded by the biggest media congregation of the day.
“We’ve got a lot of ambition for this tournament, we have the potential to win it and I’m excited about that,” the 2022 and 2023 player of the tournament added.
“As I said, it was not easy to see the guys playing as the results were not as good as we wanted but ... even if we were not at our best level, we still finished second [in the Six Nations], had a good series in November and we want to keep on going from that series and keep that dynamic for the Six Nations.”
“He is our captain,” said Galthié, “and he is back with all his potential. He’s got such an aura that has a big impact on the squad so his return is important for us.”
France have lost some heavy hitters up front in Charles Ollivon, Anthony Jelonch and his replacement, the 34-year-old Romain Taofifenua, but have depth aplenty, and the naturalised Toulouse lock Emmanuel Meafou is now well ensconced in the squad.
France were also missing Dupont’s injured half-back partner Romain Ntamack for last season’s Six Nations, but both were back in harness to help Toulouse compete the double of Champions Cup and French championship.
Toulouse still provide the core of the French team, who had an unbeaten November against Japan, New Zealand and Argentina, and their clubs have been the strongest in Europe, with six teams advancing to the Round of 16. What’s more, five of those sides will have home advantage, albeit Toulouse, Bordeaux-Beglès, La Rochelle and Toulon are in the same half of the draw, which is bad news for Ulster and Munster, and good news for Leinster in the other half.
Furthermore, the French squad contains its first Irish-based player ever in Rabah Slimani. Slimani has earned a recall after five years’ absence on the strength of his form for Leinster after leaving Clermont Auvergne whereas, except in the case of Johnny Sexton, Ireland head coaches do not select French-based players.
“For Rabah Slimani, having left Clermont, it was an incredible opportunity at the age of 34-35 to play for one of the best teams in Europe in Leinster and he is playing and truly he has performed fantastically,” said Galthié. “So it was logical to select him because he has played well and he will play well for us also.”
