France closed the second day of the Six Nations that Sunday as the only team that counts its games by victories. to repeat with an unmitigated victory in Cardiff against a rival that no longer competes in its boxing category. Wales’ thirteenth consecutive defeat in the tournament (12-54), with a fixed course towards its third wooden spoon – losing all the games – was another demonstration of its impotence, comparable to the less competitive times in Italy, and of the power of its opponent.
The Welsh coach, Steve Tandy, summed up the seriousness of the situation. “We are a rugby nation.” In fact, Italy, much more into football, is not. An advantage to live in the background a drama that reached 36 consecutive defeats in the Six Nations. , which has lost 22 of its last 24 games – its two victories were against Japan -, with the viability of its four franchises highly questioned – the most likely scenario is that one will perish – given the growing exodus of players to other leagues.
So France came into the game with a try lead. The one created by a cross-back pass To the glory of Attisogbe, who used explosiveness to zigzag Welsh shirts before his teammates exchanged the superiority. Score for Gailleton when the clock had passed 87 seconds. The reservations of fans who left thousands of tickets unpurchased had been confirmed.
Wales had a tricky situation, as they were unable to advance with the ball and kicking it away enabled the lethal counterattack. Seconds were enough to unstitch a mediocre fold. With their hosts in the last rearguard, the locals had nothing to do. If they concentrated troops to demolish the French platform, they would leave Louis Bielle-Biarrey alone in the other corner. He pocketed Jalibert’s kick to maintain his frenetic pace of tries with France: 23 in 24 games. He himself launched the next counterattack. With each broken tackle, his opponent lost a card in the deck. And France knows how to extend plays with the continuity of the offload to continue the sequence despite the tackle. Another easy mark for Brau-Boirie, an insultingly young center, from 2005. And the match was resolved in a quarter of an hour: 0-19.
The locals made an appearance, putting their forwards to work in their first notable incursion. It went well and Carre took advantage of his considerable weight to strike. A peck that did not generate a trend, since Francia remained loose, like the singer open to any composition. Call him Dupont, with his lower body already recovered after his serious knee injury, to draw lures or kick poison from the scrum. Just when the locals seemed to go to the locker room with acceptable damage, Beard dared to do something for a forward: kick. And it went wrong. In one breath, Attisogbe picked up the loose oval so that Jalibert could pose as he pleased. The fly-half, unable to consolidate his talent in the national team in the last five years, is taking advantage of the opportunity to become Dupont’s partner. In the absence of more substantial rivals, the duo is already scary.
The 7-26 score at halftime was a reflection of a team that doubled its rival in meters gained – 437 to 178 – with less possession. Wales, who had missed 23 tackles – an outrage – saw their wound open quickly with two more ten-minute tries: Marchand’s, completing the forward platform, and Attisogbe’s after his association between players with Bielle-Biarrey. The count grew to eight. Only Grady’s last one removed comparisons with the largest gap in the relationship of 106 games between the two: the 0-51 with which the Gauls won the tournament in 1998. One of those who scored that afternoon was Fabien Galthié, today the French coach. The Dragon has gone back a generation.
