After the Stade de France and Lille, Les Bleus continue to chase "their" World Cup in Marseille. For their third game in the competition, Fabien Galthié's players take on Namibia on Thursday, September 21 (9 pm), in what promises to be a boiling-hot Stade Vélodrome. One week after a slog that ended in a painful 27-12 victory over Uruguay, the French are aiming to turn things around.
A new arrival in the constellation of numbers and data surrounding Les Bleus is the number 12. This stands for the number of changes made to the starting team after each match at this World Cup. After having fielded a hybrid (or even "B") team against Uruguay, the French managers returned to the regular squad to face the Namibians, with only Cameron Woki as lock, Anthony Jelonch as flanker and young winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey retaining their places from one match to the next.
"We have a vision of playing time, we monitor performances, we work on outperforming," the coach explained, to justify the return of Les Bleus top players, tasked with getting back into the warm-up strip against the modest Namibians, ranked 21st in the world and chasing a first ever match win in the competition in seven editions.
With the World Cup taking place over an extended period (September 8 to October 28), Les Bleus have had plenty of time to reflect on their laborious performance against Uruguay – arguably their most inept since Galthié took over. For a week now, a familiar shadow has been hanging over the French rugby team – doubt. This new uncertainty was perceptible in the post-match comments: some players spoke of "frustration" at the end of a game marked by fouls. The staff were also unusually tense. At Sunday's training session, Galthié scolded the young Stade français players who had turned out in force: "Get me the best receivers, stop giving me artists!"
For a team that has been preparing for the World Cup since late 2019 with a single goal in mind, committed to mastering every aspect, the flawed meeting against Uruguay left a bitter taste. Was it to the point of eroding the trust acquired in four years together? Far from it. Even if they seem less dominant than they were in 2022, during their grand slam in the Six Nations Tournament, Les Bleus are still serene. "There's no danger, we're sure of what we've been working on for the last four years," reassured French co-coach William Servat on Tuesday. "We all know what went wrong, but there's no rush. We won the match," corroborated lock Thibaud Flament. Just like they won the all-important previous match on September 8, against the All Blacks (27-13).
"We know where we stand. These first two victories give us the opportunity to build the World Cup the way we want," continued Servat. For Servat, Les Bleus' "Latin side" caused them to lower their guard somewhat against Uruguay, after an opening match that everyone had been looking forward to since 2020. "This match against Uruguay has got us back on track a bit," the former French hooker insisted.
It's up to Les Bleus to show their real mettle against Namibia on Thursday. "We're going to focus on winning the match and building our victory," said flanker Ollivon on Wednesday. Before thinking about "cleaning up" against a team that conceded seven and then 11 tries against Italy and New Zealand, Ollivon believes the French must aim to "come out of the match with a win." Les Bleus have been studious in the week leading up to this encounter with the Namibians, who for their part feel "privileged" to face them.
As they embark on their journey to the top of the world rankings, the French team will be hoping to put the Uruguay rut behind them and focus on the next stage. "We have to wait for the big games before we can draw any conclusions," Galthié cautioned.
On Saturday at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, Ireland and South Africa will cross swords in the second real clash of the World Cup, with the loser likely to be the French team's opponent in the quarter-finals. These are two teams whose steamroller performances have impressed since the tournament opened. But the comparison is not helpful for the French after their bumpy game. "It's quite simple: Ireland wins their games, South Africa wins theirs, and so do we," insisted French general manager Raphaël Ibañez on Wednesday. It's another way of saying that any doubts that might emerge during the pool phase will be blown away when Les Bleus live up to their top billing in the major meetings to come.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.