The Times - UK (2022-03-18)

the times | Friday March 18 2022 67

Sport

W

hat would happen if

a big hairy French

front-row forward

“kissed” foreheads

with his English

counterpart in the first minute

tomorrow and received a red card?

Would France be able to manipulate

their way to victory in a way England

could not against Ireland at

Twickenham?

The question was posed by a punter

at Cheltenham this week. It’s a great

question; it gets to the heart of what

makes France such an improved side.

They have rarely lacked for magic

and muscle but the foundations have

been shifty. Not any more. This side

plays with more discipline by the day.

The influence of Shaun Edwards,

arguably the best defensive coach in

the world, is pervasive.

France will give penalties away

when needed — like all the best

teams — but they will not give the

game away as a technically terrible

tackle on Charlie Ewels’s part did on

Saturday. There is a focus as to what

France do without the ball.

Some of us old romantics long for a

second row to do something so

unutterably stupid it can only be

French. Edwards has taken the

romance out of the team. Not so

much fun for the neutral but fantastic

news for fans of the most likely

winners of the 2023 World Cup

which, of course, France will host.

There seems an absence not so

much of malice as mind-numbing

idiocy. And that is why the question

posed in Cheltenham’s Quevega bar

was such a good one. The question’s

very redundancy tells everything that

needs knowing. It is the first time in

20 years that France have looked a

disciplined side. France, under the

guidance of Bernard Laporte, stripped

Gallic sensibilities away and had the

side emulating the grim-faced

efficiency of their old enemy, England.

That distant team would not have

done anything daft in the first minute

and nor will this team as they target a

first grand slam in more than a

decade. The management will make

mincemeat of anyone who lets the

team down. But let’s hypothesise. Let’s

say France commit a technical error

and find themselves down to 14 men.

It would take a brave person to

hand the game to England because,

along with discipline, France have

gradually developed an enveloping

defensive edge. Wales were able to

open England up as the Test at

Twickenham loosened in the latter

stages. However, in Cardiff, France

physically dominated most of the

tackles. Wales went backwards. For all

the territory and possession the

determined home team controlled,

Wales barely looked like getting

behind the French rearguard.

England, given the lack of bite on

the gainline and cutting edge in their

back three, might not be able to

penetrate a 13-man French defence

on the evidence of this Six Nations.

Kicking to a vulnerable Melvyn

Jaminet may be the most profitable

attacking strategy.

France — with the full back

Jaminet outstanding on the front foot

— have scored some superlative tries

but the organisation and the attitude,

the will to get off the floor and either

make the next tackle or mark an

available space, is Calvinist in its

work ethic.

The rugged rearguard is the

defence upon which France are

building a likely grand slam-winning

team with room for offensive

improvement ahead of 2023. Could

France hang on for 79 minutes? If

France have discipline that

was once English hallmark

Stuart Barnes

they had to — which is significantly

unlikely — damn right they could.

Unlike the Laporte days, this

France are not seeking to emulate

England in all aspects of the game. In

attack they have maintained their

glorious traditions of cutting

consummate angles and offloading

with an instinct and accuracy

surpassed only by the bewitching

Fijians. The offloading is another

important indicator of French

improvement. Their forwards

reverted to little pop passes after the

soulless spell of Laporte as manager.

But France had become bogged down

with bulk. Offloading is another

phrase for passing the shit on to the

next man if it is lateral and at no

pace. Even Toulouse, France’s

guardians of the short-side offload

game, became clumsy.

All that has changed. Rigid

discipline in defence is not equated

with a lack of ambition in attack.

England, I would argue, have

struggled to balance the psychological

demands of defence with the

freewheeling fluency with which

great teams attack.

France are offloading at pace.

Giants such as Uini Atonio have

subtle hands to go with their vast size.

Cyril Baille and Julien Marchand, his

fellow front-row forwards, are equally

clever with the ball in hand.

Gaël Fickou has benefited more

than any Frenchman from the arrival

of Edwards. His basics are brilliant in

attack but the urgency and

intelligence with which he leads the

defensive line from outside centre has

not been evident since the days when

Conrad Smith masterminded the All

Black three-quarter line defence.

There are reminders of Jonathan

Davies in charge of the Welsh defence

from No 13.

That is no coincidence. Fickou

would waltz into a world team and so

would Damian Penaud, who returns

from injury tomorrow. The wing with

the centre’s instincts is a creator, a

finisher, a fantastic player who grafts

and glitters in equal measure.

Not only is this a wonderfully

drilled team, it has the benefit of

some of the world’s best players who

can change a game in an instant,

while others are manning the

defensive barricades for 79 minutes as

England could not quite manage

against Ireland. Yes, with 14 men,

France are capable of repelling the

majority of opponents. Good question

and thanks. Hope your luck was good.

C Baille

(France)

1

T Furlong

(Ireland)

3

M Itoje

(England)

5

E Etzebeth

(S Africa)

4

M Marx

(S Africa)

2

P Du Toit

(S Africa)

6

A Dupont

(France)

9

G Fickou

(France)

(Australia)S Kerevi^13

12

B Barrett

(New Zealand)

10

M Hooper

(Australia)

7

A Savea

(New Zealand)

8

C Kolbe

(S Africa)

11

D Penaud

(France)

14

H Keenan

(Ireland)

15

Stuart Barnes’ World XV

Russell drops to bench for

Scotland’s clash in Dublin

Alasdair Reid

Finn Russell will be on the bench for
Scotland for only the second time in his
eight-year, 62-cap Test career after
being dropped from the starting line-up
for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations
clash with Ireland in Dublin.
Blair Kinghorn, who has won the vast
majority of his 30 caps in the back three,
either at full back or wing, has been
handed the No 10 shirt that Russell has
all but owned since he made his debut
in 2014. Kinghorn’s only previous Test
start at fly half was against Tonga in last
year’s autumn series. Kinghorn, 25, has
taken the playmaker’s role with Edin-
burgh for much of this season and Gre-
gor Townsend, Scotland’s head coach,
said that he was happy with what he has
seen of him there. “This is the right
game for him to play,” Townsend said.
Kinghorn replaced Russell, 29, at fly
half in the latter stages of Scotland’s
losses to Wales and France last month.

However, Townsend highlighted his

performance in Edinburgh’s win over

Connacht two weeks ago as having the

most influence on his decision, describ-

ing it as his best game of the season.

Jonny Gray, who played against

England and Wales but then missed the

next two games with an ankle injury,

comes back into the side, with Sam

Skinner dropping to the bench. Among

the replacements, Ben White takes over

from Ben Vellacott as scrum half cover,

hooker Fraser Brown returns, and

Mark Bennett has been restored to the

bench, preferred to Sione Tuipulotu.

Ireland have named a team that

shows three changes from the side that

triumphed by a record margin at

Twickenham. Jack Conan returns at

No 8 with Peter O’Mahony on the

bench, Caelan Doris sliding to blind-

side flanker, and Iain Henderson at

second row for the injured James Ryan.

Mack Hansen returns on the right wing

in place of the injured Andrew Conway.

The RFU’s leadership would be pre-

pared to support a radical change to red

cards if trials in the southern hemi-

sphere are deemed successful.

The proposed 20-minute red card

law, which is being used in Super Rugby

Pacific in Australia and New Zealand,

allows a player who has been sent off to

be replaced by a substitute after 20

minutes.

The prospect of an increasing

number of red cards for unintentional

contact to a player’s head has led RFU

chiefs to believe there could be benefits

to the law, sources have told The Times.

Allowing a substitute after 20 minutes

lessens the impact of early red cards

damaging the game as a contest, but at

the same time still punishes a player

RFU weighing up 20-minute red card

personally — and they can still face

further sanctions for reckless or violent

behaviour. The law is different to the

“orange card” proposal in which a

player is in the sin-bin for 20 minutes

instead of ten after a yellow card.

The sending-off of Charlie Ewels 82

seconds into England’s match against

Ireland — it has been deemed a reck-

less tackle after his head made contact

with James Ryan’s — has been a signifi-

cant talking point. The Bath lock has

been banned for three matches but that

will be reduced to two if he attends a

“coaching intervention programme” to

improve his tackle technique.

Any move to introduce the

20-minute replacement law into En-

glish rugby would have to go through

the RFU Laws Committee for full ap-

proval, and also be approved as a trial by

World Rugby. The international body

decided against making the law a global

trial last year, but said it could be con-

sidered for more closed trials.

World Rugby is concerned that the

20-minute substitution could send the

wrong message at a time when the

sport wants to be totally focused on re-

ducing head impacts, deterring upright

tackles and changing the approaches of

players as well as coaches. There was al-

so an argument that players would be

more inclined to be reckless if they

were less concerned about the effect of

a red card on the team.

Nevertheless, the first trial of the

20-minute red card law in last year’s

Rugby Championship involving Aus-

tralia, New Zealand, South Africa and

Argentina won strong support from the

coaches of the teams.

Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter

thetimes| Friday March 118 20 22

Gabin

Villière

Position: wing

Club: Toulon

Age: 26

France caps: 11

Height: 5ft 11in

Weight: 13st 12lb