Six Nations preview: France to crush Italy in one-sided clash in Paris
France begin their quest for a first Six Nations title since 2010 with an ideal opener against perennial strugglers Italy at the Stade de France on Sunday.
The pre-tournament favourites are expected to make light work of the Azzurri as a side blessed with talent throughout look to take the next step in their journey together, the destination of course being a successful Rugby World Cup campaign on home soil in 2023 that they hope ends with them lifting the trophy.
However, the French will have to get off on the right foot without their head coach Fabien Galthie, who was on Friday confirmed as testing positive for Covid.
But with the quality of Antoine Dupont, Cameron Woki and many more in their arsenal against an Italian side that has not won in the Six Nations since 2015, dealing with the absence of their boss shouldn’t be an issue as Les Bleus look to lay down a marker to their title rivals while compounding Italy’s woes.
Last time they met
It was a comfortable 50-10 victory for France in Rome in 2021 as Dylan Cretin, Gael Fickou, Artur Vincent, Brice Dulin, Dupont and Teddy Thomas (two) all crossed the whitewash, with Matthieu Jalibert 100% off the tee as he landed six conversion and a penalty goal in a ruthless display in the opening round.
For Italy is was another match they found themselves well short of a Six Nations rival as only Luca Sperandio’s try and Paolo Garbisi’s boot troubled the scorers. They’d of course go on to lose their remaining four games in the Championship while France ended with three wins and two losses to finish second.
What they said
France centre Fickou this week spoke about the respect and “love” that has grown in their squad and how they have progressed as a group over recent years.
“Guys really love each other in this team! Did you see how Teddy Thomas and Damian Penaud hugged each other just before the last Racing-Clermont game started? Is that ‘fake’? No, it’s just a deep, real friendship,” he said to Midi-Olympique. “There is no vice in this team. I don’t see a single crooked guy, I swear!
“In the last two years, we have experienced beautiful things together, things that bind a team together. I do not like to hear that this generation is more talented than the previous one. It’s not true. when I started in the French team, there were already incredible guys, rugby players as good as those of today.
“But the atmosphere in the team was less good, before.”
Meanwhile, Italy head coach Crowley admits he has been happy with the build-up to the tournament as they look to finally end their drought this time around.
“The work done in these weeks of preparation, towards the debut at the Six Nations, has been intense and of quality,” he said before a tough first-up fixture.
“There is a lot of energy in the group and awareness of taking the field in one of the most important tournaments in the world of rugby and sport. Focus on our performance: it will be important to stay clear in the key moments of the match.”
Players to watch
It’s difficult not to look past the aforementioned Antoine Dupont and Cameron Woki as both men are amongst the front-runners to be named Player of the Championship. Dupont has already established himself as a leading scrum-half in the world game with his intelligence, service, power and speed over the ground making him a nightmare for opposition defences. If he fires for Les Bleus this weekend and in the coming weeks it’s hard to look past a French title tilt in 2022.
Woki meanwhile is poised to take this year’s Six Nations by storm as his form for Bordeaux-Begles and France of late has been outstanding. Blessed with pace and skills to go with typical forward strengths, he’s likely to cause Italy numerous problems on Sunday and the same will go for France’s upcoming opposition.
In the absence of their usual full-back Matteo Minozzi due to injury, Italy will use their oldest player Edoardo Padovani (28) in the No.15 jersey this week. As a more versatile player than Minozzi, he offers greater options in attack, having experience at fly-half and centre as well as full-back. This could see Crowley’s Italy side use Padovani as a first receiver on some phases to diversify their playstyle and to give Paolo Garbisi more space to work with when he does receive the ball.
On the opposite wing to Monty Ioane is the uncapped Tommaso Menoncello from Benetton. The 19-year-old is capable of playing centre and wing but due to his knack for try scoring, Crowley has opted to put him out wide. Being a teenager and starting against a team who have just beaten New Zealand and are favourites to win the Six Nations is an incredible feat and speaks volumes to the faith Crowley has in him. Expect this faith to pay off as Menoncello starts off what is bound to be an international career to go down in Italian history.
Main head-to-head
Sunday sees yet another intriguing battle of the number 10s. France’s Romain Ntamack versus Italy’s Paolo Garbisi will be the match-up on everyone’s mind. The young fly-halves are both mature beyond their years and incredibly nuanced in the game of rugby.
Ntamack is more than comfortable in Galthie’s dynamic French attack having played in it since he graduated to Les Bleus’ senior set up in 2019. His half-back partner, the familiar face of Dupont who he plays club rugby with at Toulouse, creates space and tempo for Ntamack and the rest of the backline to work with and from there Ntamack distributes and kicks effectively.
Garbisi is more than capable of being the player that Ntamack is, but he may find himself held back once more by Crowley (his former coach at Benetton), who opts not to script kicks into his game-plans. This may hinder Garbisi’s ability to control field position and manage the game as well as he does at Montpellier. However, he has proven his ability to succeed with Crowley before he transferred to Montpellier. With the help and flexibility added by Padovani, we could see Italy break through the French line more than Shaun Edwards would like.
Ultimately, Ntamack’s chemistry with Dupont is what will give him the upper hand on the day, along with his experienced supporting cast. This doesn’t mean we can’t expect a stellar performance from Garbisi, moreover it’s likely the Italian backs will need more Test experience to unlock the full potential of this Italian attack.
Prediction
A resounding French win. It’s as simple as that. Les Bleus are almost at their peak as a team and feature some of the greatest players and coaches on this planet. Crowley’s Italian team may hold up at first like they did against New Zealand, but the French will break them down, it’s inevitable.
The youth of this Italian side will prove as an advantage when it comes to Six Nations down the line because of the chemistry built, but for now it’s an enormous hindrance. They simply need more time together to come anywhere near the French. France’s experience will demoralise them in the second half when all seems lost – the points may well end up piling on at this stage.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom, there will be more positives for Italy – a team who shutout the All Blacks for the longest of any team in 2021. We saw them start to emerge in 2021 when they took out England, but their time is still coming, and it will come, just not against the rugby goliaths of France. Their age category teams have shone in recent years, and as those players emerge in the senior side, sparks will fly, but right now we’re in a transition phase between the Italy we knew and the Italian rugby powerhouse to come. France by 35.
Previous results
2021: France won 50-10 in Rome
2020: France won 36-5 in Paris
2020: France won 35-22 in Paris
2019: France won 47-19 in Paris
2019: France won 25-14 in Rome
2018: France won 34-17 in Marseille
2017: France won 40-18 in Rome
2016: France won 23-21 in Paris
2015: France won 29-0 in Rome
The teams:
France: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Gabin Vilière, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont, 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Dylan Cretin, 6 Anthony Jelonch, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Francois Cros, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Yoram Moefana, 23 Thomas Ramos
Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Tommaso Menoncello, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Epalahame Faiva, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Giosue Zilocchi, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Giovanni Pettinelli, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Leonardo Marin
Date: Sunday, February 6
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Kick-off: 16:00 local (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Damon Murphy (RA)
TMO: Brett Cronan (RA)
