There is a major issue in France: people, whether they are journalists, pundits or rugby federation members, still think that Les Bleus are a major international team, despite all evidence pointing to the opposite.
And it is really hurting the team as a whole. Because who can honestly be surprised that Ireland, which goes toe to toe with England, Wales and the All Blacks, can easily get a home win against a team whose win rate is below 50%?
No one in the rugby world finds it strange...except French people. L'Equipe's ***le for the report of the game is "Castaways". And the players' ratings put emphasis on how bad Bamba and Penaud were.
Those are two bright talents who got into a starting XV away facing the team that's ranked 2nd in the world...and they get demolished by journalists because France clearly lost. How are they supposed to still feel motivated by such scathing comments I wonder.
When I was little, in the late 90's, more often than not, the tournament was France and England facing each other. Scotland, Ireland and Wales were basically nonfactors (that was around the time Italy entered). It wasn't rare to see France clearly dominating those three teams when they came to Paris (or wherever it was, I'm not sure they used the Stade de France at the time). I didn't read Welsh, Irish or Scottish newspapers, but I can't imagine journalists roasting their teams because they were defeated by a team that was vastly superior away, else it must have been pretty disheartening to read.
But French people are still stuck in the glory days of the past. They still see Les Bleus beating or threatening the All Blacks, even if it hasn't happened in 8 years. They're seeing those glory days as "normal", and every new team is expected to challenge the best teams in the world.
So when they lose (albeit farcically) to a very solid Welsh teams which can still get a Slam, they get roasted. The very convincing half is forgotten. When they beat Scotland, it's expected, even though Scotland has been showing far more of a game plan on the field than Frande did in the last few years. And when they lose to Ireland, they manage to find a way to blame it on the youth.
France is basically Europe's and Rugby's New York Knicks. A team that can't go forward because it's stuck in the memories of better days, which quickly overreacts when something good happens...and is equally as quick to play the blame game whenever reality ensues and better team show them that they still are far away from the top.
I honestly think France has a great generation on the way, for the 2023 and 2027 World Cups. But it needs to realize where it is standing right now. Which is, on par with Italy and Scotland in the bottom half of the 6N.
). Btw, they are also in a strange phase, most of their players are playing together with the Jaguar in Super rugby, they are playing hte 4 nations but seems to not perform very well with the national team...
