"When I'm up in the stands, I always have a moment where I think to myself: Here I am, I’m working with the best French players right now," Fabien Galthié explained in the wake of the Six Nations curtain-raiser against Ireland.
"I’m always aware of it, even in the difficult moments."
There were decidedly few of those moments on Thursday for Les Bleus, who had four tries on the board by the time the Irish began to muster a response. "It was one of our most precise attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather conditions," the head coach pointed out.
Doubts over the former scrum-half’s tactics and team selection had grown since a string of uninspiring displays this autumn, not least after the convincing defeat to the Springboks. His decision to pick his team based on form rather than experience, though, will have been vindicated on Thursday night.
"For 50 minutes, they left no space, no open door, no hope for the opponent," Galthié summarised. "The team had the desire to do that, and I’d like to thank them for that. They added their talent to the plan we made for the match."
On the eve of his return from a year-long absence, Antoine Dupont was showing no rancour as he prepared to face the team against which he had injured his knee. While his return was short on the flashes of brilliance the Stade de France crowd is used to, the Toulouse man did turn in an authoritative, tempo-setting performance.
"We’ve gained in confidence tonight," the captain explained after the match. "Our defence won us some good turnovers and we performed well in the rucks, especially in the first half. It allowed us to play how we wanted and stay high up the pitch. There were a lot of positives. I was feeling good in the middle of all that, even if the pace was high, especially in the first half."
It was his partner in the charnière, the nine-ten hinge, who arguably shone brightest the Stade de France. Matthieu Jalibert, whose place in the France set-up has rarely been set in stone amid a strained relationship with Galthié, also had a point to prove.
In the first half alone, the Bordeaux fly-half proved he could carry over his electrifying club form onto the international stage by playing a part in all three tries. After going over for France’s second try, he was involved in the third after attempting one of his characteristic chips, which saw the ball eventually fall into the hands of Charles Ollivon.
"We made ourselves available for the rest of the team," Dupont said of their partnership. His defensive contributions did not go unnoticed either. Whether the all-round display will be enough to keep Romain Ntamack out once the Stade Toulousain star is back to full fitness, however, remains to be seen.
Les Bleus also managed to address their lack of presence on high balls, a weakness which had pulled them down over the autumn internationals. Louis Bielle-Biarrey would set the tone within the first minute with a commanding aerial win in front of his 22, the first of many on Thursday night. "It’s one of Ireland’s strong points, and we managed to perform in that sector," Galthié highlighted after the match.
The Bordeaux winger stole the show for other reasons, of course, as he sped and weaved his way through the Ireland defence for two tries, one at the start of each half. At his current rate, 22 tries in 23 caps, the absent Damian Penaud’s record of 40 tries for France won’t be standing for long.
The hosts nevertheless struggled to counter the Ireland bench’s impact, leading to a brief resurgence for the visitors midway through the second half. "Things are rarely perfect, we have to be humble enough to accept that we might make mistakes," Galthié recognised. "When you give a team like that some space, they take it. They managed to reverse the momentum, and it was very difficult for us to stop it," the 56-year-old lamented.
Les Bleus eventually turned the tide back in their favour in the final five minutes to quash any chances of a comeback. After a relatively quiet showing, Théo Attissogbe was able cap off his first outing as France’s established starting winger with a try, which was also set up by Jalibert.
In any case, next weekend’s trip to Wales looks a comparatively more straightforward affair for a team which has confirmed their status as title favourites. "Playing over there is always special, we’ve always had a difficult time in Cardiff," warns Dupont. "We’ll focus on that match first before looking ahead. We’re still ambitious, but we need to take it match after match, that’s the only way we can dream big."
Watch France v Ireland in the Under-20 Six Nations on Saturday from 7.50pm on the RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player
