Springboks prop pinpoints France’s ‘vulnerability’ in the Six Nations and names the player who they missed during triumphant campaign
Springboks prop Trevor Nyakane (inset) and former France front-rower Uini Atonio.
Springboks front-row Trevor Nyakane believes France’s scrummaging is an area which needs to be sorted out after their recent triumphant Six Nations campaign.
Les Bleus claimed the title after securing four wins, with their last-gasp victory over England in Round Five snatching the silverware from Ireland’s grasp.
After making an excellent start to the championship with a 36-14 victory over Ireland, Fabien Galthie’s troops continued with their fine form and notched further wins over Wales (54-12) and Italy (33-8).
The 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup winner, who is currently sidelined with a ruptured Achilles tendon, was a keen observer of the Six Nations and believes France‘s scrummaging is an area which they have to work on.
However, they lost to Scotland 50-40 in Round Four before edging past England 48-46 in a thriller to win the Six Nations title for the second successive year.
The championship is usually a tournament which can be tight and tense, where tight defences, set-piece play and kicking usually dominate proceedings, but this year’s tournament was an incredibly free-flowing one.
However, Nyakane feels that, despite winning the Six Nations, Les Bleus’ scrum issues need to be fixed and feels the absence of behemoth tighthead prop Uini Atonio, who was forced into retirement due to a heart attack suffered shortly before the start of this year’s championship, was a big reason for their struggles at the set-piece.
“Myself and Bongi (Mbonambi), as we were sitting and watching, we actually looked at them (and said) the French actually miss Uini Atonio,” he told the For The Love Of Rugby podcast.
‘It used to be such a devastating weapon’
“They really miss that guy right now because their scrum is not the same anymore. And it used to be such a devastating weapon.
“We all knew that if you get into a scrum battle with those guys, they can take it to a dark place.
“And I saw a bit of vulnerability there. And I think if teams are to analyse it properly and actually try to take them on there, I think there’ room for this opportunity that you can really exploit them.”
Nyakane currently plies his trade with United Rugby Championship outfit the Sharks but knows the French game well after spending two seasons with Parisian club Racing 92 between 2022 and 2024.
“So yes, I played there. So, I know most of the guys that I played with there,” he added.
“And I was very happy for them. And the way the French played, especially the first game, against Ireland, I was like ‘There’s no way anyone (can beat them). England will have to come up with something to beat these guys in Paris’.
“And then as the thing went on, they still looked like that until, they played the Scots. And then I’m like, ‘Okay, wait, there’s a bit of something that’s not right here’.
‘There’s a bit of vulnerability there’
“And if I feel like if teams actually go at them in the set-piece, if you keep the ball and you just let them defend, there’s a bit of vulnerability there.
“When it comes to the set-piece, I think they really miss Uini Atonio massively.”
Fellow Boks prop and double World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff, who retired last year due to a serious neck injury, also had a two-year stint in France with Bordeaux-Begles from 2015 to 2017.
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He agreed with Nyakane and said a struggling set-piece, particularly the scrum, has a ripple effect on other aspects of the game and feels France should work on fixing their shortcomings in that area.
“I think such a big part of modern-day rugby is how you dominate that territory battle with your set-piece and the scrum being a big part of it,” said Kitshoff.
“So, having a scrum that’s on the back foot, first of all, like probably your timing when it comes to your attacking plays, your defensive structure, it all takes a bit of a knock because you’re always struggling.
“And then when you get it right, you always feel like you’re better on the front foot and you can win that territory battle much easier and you can play in the right areas of the field. So it is something that will have to be looked at, especially from the French side.
“I think they’ve definitely got the players and they’ve got the league to back it up and to build a very strong scrum, but it’s not going to fix itself. It’s going to take a lot of hard work. It’s going to take some determination.
“It’s going to take a scrumming coach that knows what what he’s doing and what he wants out of his team.
“Hopefully we see them going into, into next year or coming into the summer series, with a bit of a stronger pack, stronger, and a mindset, if I can put it like that.
“And then, we’ll see some better performances, but it is a, it is a big part that needs some fixing.”