France coach Galthie is consciously following the instance of Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus
CARDIF:
Crushed by England of their Six Nations opener at Twickenham final weekend, Wales return residence to Cardiff on Sunday to face the may of a French group that has its eyes set on a Grand Slam.
It’s a daunting prospect given the best way Fabien Galthie’s younger facet swatted away Eire 36-14 within the event opener in Paris.
AFP Sports activities picks out three areas which might show pivotal on the Principality Stadium:
Le French Aptitude
France coach Galthie is consciously following the instance of Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus and constructing himself a broad squad, any one among whom shall be skilled sufficient to step up at subsequent yr’s World Cup.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey, nonetheless solely 22 and affectionately generally known as LBB, was one of many first to profit as a teen and now has 22 tries from 23 Exams, together with two towards the Irish within the opener.
Galthie raised eyebrows by leaving out some skilled gamers towards Eire and he has maintained that towards Wales, turning to youth as soon as extra to cowl the accidents to centres Nicolas Depoortere, Yoram Moefana and Kalvin Gourgues.
As an alternative of reaching for the 98-cap Gael Fickou, he has handed a primary Check to 20-year-old Fabien Brau-Boirie (FBB) who will group up along with his 22-year-old Pau companion Emilien Gailleton.
“The truth that they play collectively usually, and practice collectively, creates larger understanding, which, in these instinctive moments, whether or not in assault or defence, provides a particular connection,” mentioned Galthie.
Simply pity the commentator who has Brau-Boirie passing to Bielle-Biarrey; maybe it should merely be “FBB to LBB”.
Wales have to be ‘smarter’
Wales have been poor in nearly every part they tried at Twickenham as they have been trounced 48-7 by England.
Not simply poor in execution; their play was missing in thought and sometimes defied cause.
4 yellow playing cards — two within the area of 40 seconds — and a slew of penalties have been unhealthy sufficient however the sight of captain Dewi Lake forgetting to faucet a penalty earlier than happening the cost on the England line produced a deafening collective groan throughout the Principality.
“We have got to be smarter,” mentioned a pissed off Steve Tandy who responded by making 4 modifications to his line-up.
“We aren’t South Africa, we’re not one of many largest groups on the planet, so we have got to be good, play rugby and maintain the ball.
“We aren’t going to go straight via France. Have a look at their dimension and 6-2 bench, so now we have to play good round how we assault the sport.”
Tandy has beefed up the pack by bringing in Leicester backrow ahead Olly Cracknell in addition to props Rhys Carre and Tomas Francis whereas Joe Hawkins is available in for Ben Thomas at inside centre.
Francis is the one beginning survivor of the final Welsh group to beat France in Cardiff – a 14-13 arm-wrestle in 2018.
If historical past is towards the Welsh, so is the shape ebook: it’s three years since they final gained within the Six Nations and so they have now misplaced 22 of their final 24 matches.
Empty stadium
“We’re going to see 80,000 Welshmen pushing their group on,” mentioned Galthie this week as he performed down options that the house facet can be a straightforward contact.
It is true that two years in the past, the identical Wales v France fixture was held on a Sunday and attracted a crowd of 71,242.
Nevertheless, Galthie might have been overegging the relish with which the Welsh public wish to see their dragons put to the sword.
They have not celebrated a house win within the Six Nations since beating Scotland in 2022. Final season they have been flattened 68-14 by England, a file defeat that fell rapidly when South Africa smashed them 73-0 within the autumn.
This yr, with a normal malaise surrounding the way forward for rugby in Wales, the general public could also be discovering higher issues to do on a Sunday afternoon.
On Friday morning there have been nonetheless 15,300 tickets unsold for the match, in keeping with the official ticket web site.
Quite a few tickets have been additionally on provide on the WRU’s official resale platform at lower than half their unique worth.
Gross sales are additionally down for Wales’ residence video games towards Scotland and Italy.
