Antoine Dupont after the victory over Japan (52-12) this Saturday evening, at the microphone of TF1 : “We were pragmatic at the start of the game, playing a lot of turnover balls. I think we all had the appetite and the desire to play. We took the lead fairly quickly, but a bit of garbage meant we didn’t have enough consistency throughout the match. But the result is obviously positive..

He continued his analysis in a post-match press conference. “I had a good feeling about the game. There was desire, appetite and pleasure, above all, despite a few mistakes. When you take the score so wide, there’s always a bit of slackness. But I thought we were pretty consistent. The Japanese imposed long sequences of play on us and we responded well, with intensity in the collisions. It’s hard to be conscientious about positioning and repositioning when the score swells, but I thought we were pretty serious overall.”

The Les Bleus captain concluded with a few words about their future opponents, New Zealand. “As a rugby fan, you love to see the All Blacks play like that again. But above all, beyond their individuality, it’s the physical intensity they put in. It’s up to us to raise our game to meet the threat.”