We are privileged to be watching probably the finest France team of the century, but the rest of the world was given some assurance that the old kinks in their psyche, which we thought they had ironed out, might still be niggling away beneath the lacquer. This was supposed to be a procession. It was not.
No one gave Uruguay a chance. The bookies reckoned they were something like 200-1 to win. Well, the score after 53 minutes read 13-12 to the hosts – and they were lucky to be ahead at all. The South Americans tore into their opponents and in many respects outplayed them, scoring two tries worthy of the most accomplished sides. It was not until the final 10 minutes, with a try by Louis Bielle-Biarrey, that France were able to secure the win with any kind of confidence. This blip in the carnival will quickly be forgotten when France qualify for the quarters, but let the record state they failed here even to register a bonus point.
A half-time score of 13-5 to the hosts told its own story. Except it didn’t really. Astonishing though it may seem, this confident group of players might have had more – and we do not mean the confident ones in blue. Uruguay were stroppy and belligerent, and it turns out they can play a bit, too.
France also showed more than a few nice touches, but the upstart Uruguayans, as raucous as the home crowd in this fabulous stadium in Lille, rattled them. France could make little stick. And then they became the latest side to undergo trial by lottery. Romain Taofifénua caught Santiago Arata in the head as he went to join the tackle Sekou Macalou was already making on the Uruguay scrum-half. Unsurprising, really, given Taofifénua is 13 inches taller. Clearly an accident, like all the rest, but any sanction is possible in these maniacal times.
Happily, sense prevailed. France’s lock went to the sin bin while the incident was reviewed. Ben Whitehouse, in what is rapidly becoming the most unenviable seat in the house, chose to keep the sanction at yellow.
Just as well, because France looked spooked already. They opened the scoring with a Melvyn Jaminet penalty in the fourth minute but it was Uruguay who scored the first try two minutes later, when Felipe Etcheverry sent over a cross-kick to which Nicolás Freitas beat Jaminet to touch down for an unlikely lead.
The lead did not last long, it is true. Antoine Hastoy was sent over from an attacking scrum five minutes later to restore a measure of sanity, which Jaminet followed up with a penalty on quarter of an hour.
But that was it for the rest of the half. Actually, it was Uruguay who came closest to scoring again when Etcheverry went clean through but Whitehouse, the television match official, had an easier decision to make when he highlighted a blocking run by Tomás Inciarte.
We waited for normal service to resume after the break. Jaminet was offered a chance to calm France’s nerves but he pulled his penalty wide from just inside his own half. The nerves jangled some more. Uruguay were all over them, holding up mauls, winning scrum penalties, which had seemed beyond them early on.
But that was nothing. In the 53rd minute they scored their second try. It would have been impossible to tell who was the pedigree player when Baltazar Amaya glided round Arthur Vincent, whose defensive positioning at outside centre was horribly out for a split second. Etcheverry converted. France’s lead was now only one point.
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They restored the previous margin at the next play but it was ugly, the score of the nervous. Etcheverry, so immaculate to that point, kicked the ball into his own player and Peato Mauvaka, the replacement hooker, managed to gather and touch down.
It hardly calmed the nerves, though. France laboured on; Uruguay played to the death, winning penalties and collisions long after they were supposed to be knackered. Only in the 73rd minute did France secure the match, when Bielle-Biarrey was worked neatly into the corner. But let the record also state: it was Uruguay pressing for a try when the final whistle sounded.
