In a white-hot Stade de France, the Tricolores knew what to expect before challenging the XV de la Rose in the quest for victory, synonymous with the Grand Slam, the first since 2010. An eternity for Fabien’s Blues Galthié.
France had to absolutely beat England since Ireland had put the pressure by disposing as expected of Scotland (26-5) in Dublin. The Greens were temporarily propelled to the top of the standings. An Irish defeat could have offered the title to the Blues before they even set foot on the lawn of the Stade de France, but the XV of Clover fulfilled its part of the contract to maintain the suspense until the end by winning the “Triple Crown”, an honorary title disputed each year in the Tournament by the four nations across the Channel.
Our colleagues from the newspaper “L’Équipe” had launched on Saturday morning by posting a Grand Slam operation in the title of its “A” while already projecting towards infinity and even beyond with the sights set on the quest for the world crown in 2023 which will take place on French soil. But let’s be sure that Springboks and All Blacks will sell their skin dearly before offering the supreme crown to the French…
The message had obviously been well read and received by the Blues who only took a quarter of an hour to plant the first try via two interventions from Villière with a Fickou seizing the favorable rebound to flatten in a corner (8-0). Three penalties later (11-6), the XV of France remained within gunshot of the English before the break but Cros found the opening for his first international try (18-6). The Grand Slam was starting to take shape except that Steward brought the English back into the game at 18-13. And then came the flash of Antoine Dupont, as often (25-13), to definitively deliver France twenty minutes from time and put an end to twelve years of scarcity!