The sky has fallen on their heads. A few minutes before the start of the meeting, the brightness had suddenly dropped above Twickenham, auguring a dark afternoon. But the supporters gathered in the temple of English rugby could never have anticipated the extent of the rout that their XV de la Rose would suffer. At the of ” mon [ses] most successful matches »according to the back Thomas Ramos, the French men’s rugby team inflicted, Saturday, March 11, a historic defeat on England on its land (53-10).
“You destroyed us, it was brutal! It started strong and from the start, we understood that we had no chance., summarized in the bays of the stadium an English supporter after the game, more dazed than disappointed. Never in more than a hundred and fifty years of history, English rugby had suffered such a defeat at home (and only two corrections were more severe).
Unlike the very cordial understanding displayed the day before in Paris between Emmanuel Macron and Rishi Sunak, it was quickly very clear that the French had not come to Twickenham to do diplomacy. Less than two minutes had passed as Thomas Ramos interrupted the early chants of England fans, flattening the first try of the evening following a 60-yard throw-in. Six others will follow for the Blues, consistent until the siren – Damian Penaud going there with his double in the last eight minutes, after Thibaud Flament and Charles Ollivon each saw double.
“A perfect day at Twickenham”
“It’s a perfect day at Twickenham, it’s rare”, delighted Fabien Galthié after the meeting. Everything succeeded for his troops on Saturday in “the temple of rugby” where France had not won in an official match since 2005. Ball scrapings, rebounds or even cunning – like Ollivon’s second try, flattening in the in-goal a ball “borrowed” from an Englishman: nothing seemed to be able to tarnish the evening of the Blues, not even the downpours that occurred after a quarter of an hour of play.
In less than half-time, the French folded the meeting, delivering a demonstration to English borrowed, exceeded, then confused. “When we start strong like that and face a team that is a little doubtful, we feel the weight that we put on their heads”welcomed the third row François Cros, satisfied that he and his partners have managed – unlike many matches of the tournament this year – to maintain the pace from start to finish. “Tonight, all the ingredients were there, and it made a great copy. »
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