“No Dupont, no problem. » The analysis is concise, and it is shared by two British dailies, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. “Antony who? », even dares the Telegraph. Without its captain and “talisman”, recovering from a maxillo-zygomatic fracture that occurred on September 21, the French XV needed a victory against Italy, Friday October 6 in Lyon, to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. And as the London newspaper points out, the Blues beat the Transalpines “handily” (60-7) to “prepare to face Ireland, South Africa or Scotland next Sunday in Paris”.
“The Azzurri showed themselves too nervous, too faulty and incapable of countering the aggressiveness and power of the French,” laments the Italian daily Il Giornale. The performance of the Blues did not go unnoticed in the foreign press. ” Long live France. Long live the difference [in French], the disguises, the colors, the madness and its musical accents which served as the backdrop to the World Cup hosts’ qualification for the quarter-finals”, enthuses The Irish Times .
The special correspondent for the Irish daily, who notes that the French XV got through the group stage “without a hitch”, visibly enjoyed his evening in Lyon: “It was a night of celebration, before, during and after the match. »
And the Irish journalist praised the performance of “the alchemist of French rugby”, Fabien Galthié, who was able to “concentrate on the play of his team” rather than “on the daily predictions regarding the recovery of Antoine Dupont “. His replacement, Maxime Lucu, had “an excellent match”, allowing France to play quickly after excellent work from forwards Anthony Jelonch, Charles Ollivon and Grégory Alldritt.
“Their dream continues.”
By passing Italy eight tries, France showed “that it would be dangerous, with or without the return of its captain,” adds the BBC. The level of play of the Blues is only matched “by Ireland or South Africa”, observes Planet Rugby: “Despite all the fireworks lit by their back line, it is on the fundamentals that the France shines. Defensively, they are the best team in the tournament. » “Make no mistake”, warns the specialist site, this French team has “something very special” and “it will take something monumental to stop its progress in the competition”.
Particularly because after the injuries to Dupont and fly-half Romain Ntamack – before the start of the competition – the Blues showed the world that they had other crazy talents in reserve. The Planet Rugby site thus hails the match of fly-half Matthieu Jalibert against Italy, “absolutely exquisite, playing with the speed and precision of the greatest number 10s”.
“He is a talented playmaker”, who now has “the wind in his sails”, and he represents a threat “at least as strong as Ntamack”, adds The Times. For the British daily, it remains to be seen whether Jalibert “can hold the bar” in a decisive match such as the one that awaits the Blues in the quarter-finals. The latter advance in each match with a slogan, “United for a dream”, underlines The Daily Telegraph. As they return to Paris, where they will play their next match (and all others if they qualify), “their dream continues – and only a great team can end it.”
