France may be one step away from their first Grand Slam in more than a decade, but their march up the World Rankings and into the bookies favourites as firm Rugby World Cup contenders is something the Springboks have taken notice of.
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The fawning over the World Rugby Player of the year Antoine Dupont is one thing - especially in a year when World Rugby snubbed several Springbok candidates that deserved at least a look-in at the nominations, but there is no doubt that this French side is on an upward curve and will start next year’s World cup at home as one of the biggest favourites.
The Springboks will be looking to defend their title they won in Japan, knowing that whatever happens, the draw has put them on a collision course with either New Zealand or France in the quarters, after facing the prospect of a resurgent Ireland and Scotland in the pool stages.
But that is next year and this weekend Fabien Galthie takes his Les Blues up against Eddie Jones’ perplexing England squad looking to underline their credentials.
Since taking over, Galthie has built an exceptional squad that plays with panache and confidence, that is filled with youth and exuberance and one that can go toe to toe with the best in the world.
They haven’t played the Springboks for various reasons, and perhaps it is good so, but it would be wrong to dismiss their challenge simply on this point.
Galthie has built a team that downed the All Blacks in some of the most enterprising rugby in Paris last year and dismantled the Irish challenge a few weeks back in the Six Nations with such ease that Irish fans were still trying to convince themselves they were in the game.
DRIVEN
For one, Galthie is driven. And driven to extremes. His long-time friendship with Nick Mallett and Alan Solomons saw him spend time at False Bay years ago, and both speak admirably about his qualities.
But it was Gus Pichot, the former World Rugby vice-president, who sang his praises this week in the British Daily Mail, and lifted the lid on the type of coach Galthie is with this squad full of French flair.
“I have big respect for Fabien. He is the brain and driver of everything for that team, I can tell you that,” Pichot told the newspaper.
“He was very intelligent as a player and now he is very intelligent as a coach, but mainly he is very intense. He is right there in your face and, for the French culture; that is sometimes very good and sometimes it is not very good. They love him or they hate him.
“I respected him because I like to be challenged. If you understand that Fabien just wants to get the best out of you and he will challenge everything about your psyche and your game-plan – everything – then you will be successful. If you don’t understand that, then you will hate him.”
Pichot recounted a tale to the paper of Galthie’s intense nature.
“Everything is intense. He never rests. When we won the (Top 14) semifinal against Toulouse, we went to celebrate in Paris. We spent three hours of that time in a bar in St Germaine – Fabien and myself – discussing if we were going to play Juan Hernandez at 10 with David Skrela at 12, in the final.
“We were talking about it until 3am. We had been drinking, but we were still thinking about how we were going to beat Clermont in the final. And we did. That is the kind of intensity I am talking about. I loved it and I was happy to be talking to him about this until three o clock in the morning!”
PHYSICALITY
Galthie has assembled a crack squad - including the renowned defence coach Shaun Edwards and South African kicking coach Vlok Cilliers, with their defensive system built around former Bulls lock Paul Willemse, who has become one of the mainstays in the French system.
On the Rugby Pod, Edwards confirmed that Willemse is held back in training so that he can go full-tilt in the matches.
“We are a better defensive team when Paul is on the pitch. He is a very, very dominant character on the pitch. I gave him the job,” Edwards said.
The French side have built themselves around Willemse’s physicality and the Bulls’ loss has become France’s gain. The French have a solid setpiece and dominate the game physically, and match it with a kicking game that can rival the Springboks’.
As Eddie Jones put it this week, it makes them a difficult side to play against.
“France are the highest and the longest kicking team in the world, so we need to counter that, we need to find a way to beat them in that area,” Jones said.
“That’s the way they get field position — then they attack through their big forward pack and create mismatches for their big powerful wingers.
“There is a battle for metres on the floor around the ruck and through the air. We have got to win both those battles to win the game.”
DUPONT
And then there is Dupont. The smiley World Player of the year, the kingpin in the French arsenal. A player who is so good it seems, that nobody can stop him.
He has received plaudits from everywhere, not the least from the legendary Gareth Edwards this week when the Welsh legend described him as a player “without weaknesses.”
“He is an unusual mix in that he can literally do it all. He is an extremely competent, intelligent, all-round rugby player who is also blessed with very special skills and attributes — incredible strength for a small man, a steam piston hand off, great pace when he needs it, the toughness to absorb big hits and that spatial awareness and anticipation to know where he needs to be in five and ten seconds time. I suppose we call that instinct,” Edwards said.
“Underneath it all though is a player that has total command of rugby’s basics — passing, kicking, running and tackling. I got to play against all kinds of brilliant scrum-halves and have watched all the best since I retired but there aren’t many, if any, who have no weaknesses.
“He has that game face of his and the mask doesn’t slip for the full 80 minutes. There is always a big smile when he scores but that’s it, he stays on the case, does not get involved in any niggle or back chat and does not go in for histrionics. He is remorseless in the way that the great Kiwis are.”
Some big words and Dupont’s reputation continues to grow.
Wales showed, however, that the French juggernaut can be disrupted, and the 13-9 win that France pulled off in Cardiff may not have been pretty, but it gave hope to the rest of the rugby world that they can be stopped.
Perhaps not this weekend, unless Eddie has something under his sleeve, but before they march to what is already being touted as their World Cup victory.
France will go into the World Cup on home soil as one of the favourites. They’ve earned it with their run of form of late. And a Grand Slam and Six Nations title will only underline that.
But pressure is a strange thing, especially in World Cups. The Springboks know that, and will be watching this French team’s progression very very quietly.
And making plans for when they inevitably meet.