France player ratings: Thomas Ramos’ ‘nerves of steel’ and ‘predator’ Louis Bielle-Biarrey secure Six Nations title despite shambolic pack performance
Louis Bielle-Biarrey celebrates and an inset of France's Thomas Ramos and Antoine Dupont
Following a gripping Six Nations finale, here’s how we rated France in their 48-46 victory over England at the Stade de France to clinch the title.
France player ratings
15 Thomas Ramos: The hero of the day. Nerves of steel to slot the match-winning kick but his influence extended far beyond the final action of the Championship. His through ball for Louis Bielle-Biarrey would make KDB blush, whilst he was a rock at the back. His kicking display was the difference today. 9
14 Theo Attissogbe: It was a shock that Damian Penaud wasn’t selected at the start of the tournament but Attissogbe repaid the coaching staff and in spades. Today he got rewarded with a try of his own but he was lively all game and caused all kinds of havoc for England. His defence can be suspect at times, but England didn’t exploit it. 7
13 Pierre-Louis Barassi: Glided around the pitch brilliantly with ball in hand and in contact, he was excellent too. He slipped off a few tackles that England exploited but more positives than negatives. 7
12 Yoram Moefana: Far better than he was last week but that wasn’t very difficult as he actually looked like a competent international player. It wasn’t brilliant but wasn’t compelling either. 6
11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey: A predator of the highest order. If there is a sniff of blood, he is pouncing to score and score he did. He latched onto brilliant through balls from Ramos and Matthieu Jalibert for the first two and sped onto a pass from Antoine Dupont for the third. His first was the pick of the lot for the first three as he left Elliot Daly clutching at air, while his fourth was just as special. He was served on a platter but still needed to be in the right positions to capitalise and capitalise he did. In the big moments, when France needed something special, he was who they turned to. 9
10 Matthieu Jalibert: Like much of this French performance, you have to take the brilliance with the bad. For Jalibert, there was much more of the former as he pickpocketed Cadan Murley, assisted two tries and beat a match-high of eight defenders but did throw the intercept pass for Ollie Chessum. Still a memorable campaign for the sensational superstar. 8
9 Antoine Dupont (c): His two try assists were also on a predator level and whilst Dupont had struggles throughout the game, he emerged in the positive as he too pitched up in the big moments. His clearance kicks got his side out of trouble time and time again. He is still world-class, despite not being at his absolute best, and he proved it. 8
The Forwards
8 Charles Ollivon: Big match temperament. Ollivon was a shining light in an underwhelming starting pack. Nigh-on flawless for much of the game as he relentlessly made his tackles and looked for repeat actions. He sensationally denied England a try and was hugely influential with ball in hand. One of France’s greatest back-rowers. 8
7 Temo Matiu: The 24-year-old got the shephard’s hook at half-time after a Test debut that did not lack effort. He topped the carry and tackle count for Les Blues in the opening 40 metres, but was doing so in a pack that was backtracking. He was notably caught ball watching and was therefore slow to react and late to tackle Alex Coles. Talent and effort is there but perhaps a mistake from Fabien Galthie to throw him in the mix against England. 5
6 Francois Cros: Like Ollivon, it was all work-rate from Cros on both sides of the ball with a particular emphasis on the breakdown. He never really has a bad game and whilst many of the starting pack struggled, Cros did not. 8
5 Emmanuel Meafou: An old-school brute of a lock, and he delivered on that, landing hammering hits and attracting multiple defenders with just about every carry. At times when France were outpowered, he was the anomaly. 6
4 Thibaud Flament: You know what you get from Flament every game. He makes his tackles, is a safe option in the lineout and is a good distributor in traffic. He ticked those boxes again but was guilty of a soft penalty when England were under pressure. Still, solid as ever. 6
3 Dorian Aldegheri: Fears were raised that it could all go pear-shaped for Les Bleus in the scrums and those were realised as Aldegheri was folded up and shunted backwards by Ellis Genge in the set-pieces. It was utter dominance from the Englishman. Aldegheri’s main job is to scrummage and he did that poorly today. Outside of that, he offered little. His replacement, Demba Bamba, was even worse. 3
2 Julien Marchand: Lineout throws were solid, but he was part of a scrum that was dominated. Marchand was hit and miss this Six Nations and against England, it was something more in between the two. 5
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1 Jean-Baptiste Gros: The scrum issues were on the right-hand side of the French set-piece and not the left. Gros largely kept Joe Heyes in check but when the rest are in reverse, it’s incredibly difficult not to follow. Busy in defence and pitched in with a turnover. The standout of the French front rowers. 6
Replacements: Galthie left his two replacement backs on the pine to watch what was unfolding with Baptiste Serin and Emilien Gailleton remaining unused. The French needed the front-row replacements to at least attempt to turn the tide in the scrums and they did not. Bamba would have been better off not playing as he was battered in the scrums and then conceded a silly yellow card. However, the other forwards fared better. Rodrigue Neti assisted Ollivon with the try-saving tackle, which led to his injury while Joshua Brennan and Mickael Guillard got through a mountain of work along with Hugo Auradou. 6
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