From the mouths of the French – players, coaches, scribblers and commentators – come eulogies of what Fabien Galthie’s Grand Slam seekers are all about.
We hear of a side that “brings joy and emotion”, a group of boys, and men, who the youth of France now identify with like rarely before, an exhilarating outfit “no longer carried by a single man (the great Antoine Dupont) but by an entire generation”.
Against Scotland there’s Theo Attissogbe, the 21-year-old wing from Pau, Nicolas Depoortere, the 23-year-old centre from Bordeaux and his otherworldly team-mate, Louis Bielle-Biarrey – 24 tries in 25 Tests. In the back row, the wonderful Oscar Jegou, the 22-year-old from La Rochelle.
Galthie has given game-time to 10 players aged 23 and under in this Six Nations. No wonder the kids at home have warmed to this side.
With everything working like clockwork, he’s clearly run out of things to complain about. Hence, his laughable swipe at the size of the Murrayfield away dressing room. Some of his players will have to change in the corridor, Galthie whinged. Throughout the rugby world, hearts bled for the man.
In Wales a few weeks back, France had 10,000 fans in the city. On Saturday, they’re expecting 15,000 in Edinburgh – “a human tide” the newspaper Midi Olympique calls it.
They’ll all be there to see if France can make it four wins out of four, to see if Bielle-Biarrey can score in his ninth consecutive Six Nations game, to see if Les Bleus can blow Scotland away with the same elan they showed when racing, with obscene haste, into a 29-0 lead after 47 minutes against Ireland, a 19-0 lead after 15 minutes against Wales and 19-0, again, after 29 minutes against Italy.
France are not just winning games, they’re putting them to bed quickly. Last season they scored 30 tries – a Six Nations record – when winning the title, and this season they have 18 already.
A title isn’t enough for them this time, though. It’s a Grand Slam or disappointment. Galthie has a dream team but heaps of pressure, too. France expects and if the fans don’t get what they want this time then Galthie might be in serious trouble.
They only have one Slam in 15 years, a pitiful total given the resources they have. Everything about them right now screams Slam, but on the pages of Midi Olympique, amid declaring this side as the most popular in the history of the national team, there is a stark warning: “The opportunity is real, the danger, too…”
In France, many see the Scotland game, and not England in Paris next weekend, as the greatest hurdle to the Slam. They respect Scotland because they play like France, or try to. When Scotland nail it, nobody is safe.
