Another step negotiated by New France, as they progress to their own World Cup next year – and, before that, a date with their bitterest enemy, everyone’s bitterest enemy in rugby’s small world, England in Paris next weekend.
Another successful step there, and a grand slam will be theirs, a first since 2010, a first title since 2010, a dozen years, long and barren. That said, this notion that France are in a different class to les autres suffered a few cracks.
Wales, after a torrid start, the like of which France are increasingly adept at inflicting, were comfortably the equal of their vaunted visitors. They are beginning to reassemble a more familiar pack, Taulupe Faletau a second game into his return and looking all the more magnificent for it, but their front five, in particular, remains raw. Well, they stood up handsomely against the monstrous French pack.
With only small adjustments to the dread reality of What Actually Happened, Wales might have won – and no one could possibly have argued with it. But the hated Friday night slot, the cauldron of Cardiff – albeit shorn of nearly a fifth of its usual number – there were more than enough ingredients to render this latest step exactly the kind any temperamental France side might have slipped on in the past. That France, ultimately, did not is to their credit, as of course is the little burst of panache that proved the difference.
Against Ireland, against Scotland and now against Wales, France have distinguished themselves by simply outplaying their opponents in that special period of the game when the lungs are full, the passions high, the excuses low – those first 10 minutes. The game’s only try was scored in the ninth minute, and a beauty it was. In it lay the reasons for this France team’s lionisation.
Melvyn Jaminet is almost as much the embodiment of this generation as his more celebrated teammates at half-back. The full-back is worth his place for his goal-kicking alone, but his elegance in attack is very French, as are the lingering question marks over his authority when the game is not quite going France’s way. Both were in evidence here, but the elegance won out because of those golden minutes in France’s opening.
Jaminet it was who ran back a loose Welsh kick, finding a gap and releasing Gabin Villiere on the left. The ball went right, but when the sweetest of handling sequences brought it back left again, Jaminet beat another outside shoulder to send Anthony Jelonch striding over.
Should we be impressed the try was all France would need in the end, with only another penalty, the only score of the second half, the extent of their proceeds from the subsequent 70 minutes? Or should England, for example, be encouraged that there remains ample scope to ruffle them? Certainly, if Jaminet, Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack and the like are the bellwethers of the side, unplayable when on form, there is reason to think questions might still be asked of their authority.
Not even Dan Biggar’s best mate would claim that he is more talented than his opposite number, Ntamack, but when it comes to the imposition of personality on a contest, few are more forceful. If Wales felt they had done more than enough to win, it is because we came away more aware of the role played by Biggar, Faletau, Liam Williams et al than that played by their opponents beyond those opening minutes.
What does that matter? Wales did not win. They had their moments in the second half, one golden opportunity to score a try about as consummate as that scored by France spilled agonisingly by another returning veteran, Jonathan Davies. Biggar’s cross-kick was classy, Faletau’s catch of it on the run and inside ball to die for, but Davies could not hold the pass.
A try then and the questions over this young French team would have become louder. But there was no try then. Nor again when Wales were held up after yet another siege of the French line. Does that mean the questions are invalid? Or does it mean they are just yet to be asked? Roll on, next weekend in Paris....
