At the end of a nightmare scenario, the XV of France lost to South Africa. Captain Guirado's Blues seem cursed and doomed to defeat. And yet, the victory stretched out their hands after a brave match during which they did better than compete in the Springbok and showed real progress, but only a victory can validate. Back on this sad first test-match of November.

These Blues are cursed

The cruel scenarios are repeated for the XV of France. "It looks like the match of Ireland," immediately compared Guilhem Guirado, the captain of the Blues, with in memory that drop assassin Sexton. There were also those Springboks who won by a small point last November or the Australians in 2016, which the French can beat but the drop of Lopez hit the post. Let's add this other defeat by one point to the Millennium. The Blues seem subscribed to the defeat. "As if we did not have the right to win," notes Yoann Maestri. But Saturday, the disillusionment is probably even greater, because the Blues were only seconds of a happy ending. They camped in the 22m South-African when everything collapsed. From hope to despair. For the record, there is less than a minute to play, the Blues have a melee. Referee Nigel Owens asks them to get the ball out quickly. Then follows a series of pick and go under the Springboks posts that the French do not master well. Lauret leaves with the ball, the support is not effective. The referee whistles penalty. The opportunity for the South Africans to return to the camp of the Blues they pound to get a new penalty and get closer to their line. The pressure is immense. Winger Dyantiy will go for the first time behind the line, but the try will be denied for a go-ahead. No matter, the Boks who had an advantage, benefit from one last ammunition. It will be good. On a ball overpowered, their substitute hooker crucified the Blues and a Stade de France half empty. "We can not afford to miss opportunities like that," Jacques Brunel storm after the defeat.

Players marked.

The closed face, the black eye ... It is very affected that Guilhem Guirado presented himself at a press conference after the meeting. The brave captain of the Blues embodies the curse that strikes this XV of France. "The cloakroom is bruised tonight," he said. He the first who found the captaincy, but also the defeat that sticks like a plaster. "It's a design that's familiar. You think you win but you lack control, "laments Yoann Maestri again. "We are very disappointed and shot. Looks like we do not want to win. We are black. And Mathieu Bastareaud adds: "We are sad pissed off. It's unrealistic to lose a match like that in stoppage time, in this way, after the riot of energy. Once again we are not rewarded. It may be too much time. "

Dots give too easily

Dominant, especially in the first half, the French put the South Africans under pressure. They even won the physical fight at times, which is not the least against the overpowering Boks. "But they were allowed, throughout the game, by small mistakes, to remain stuck to the score. We did not know how to hold the match. We lack a little control, lucidity, "laments the selector. "That's what differentiates a great rugby team from one another," says Yoann Maestri. The French fought to score each point when the Springboks were stuffed with blue errors. The most glaring being this test cap a few seconds after the second try of the Blues. "The riot of energy that it asked us to score points and how they scored them, it's screaming," says again the 2nd line of Stade Français.

Equal play in the fight

Difficult to draw the positive from an umpteenth defeat, because the players understood it only a victory can validate the progress. And yet, there are some. "The energy, the intensity, the abnegation we put in it. We competed, we managed to be fast, intense, but that's not enough, "regrets Maestri.Rivaliser with" these players we presented as movers ", in the words of Guirado, is a strong marker of progress made by these Blues, especially on the physical plane. "We competed in the physical dimension with the South Africans who are perhaps the best in this field. Even if they made us a little back in the second period. It remains a satisfaction, "says Jacques Brunel, whose choices have paid off, especially that of repositioning Iturria in the third row.

Game intentions

Many will only remember this 3 against 1 wasted by Teddy Thomas who had eliminated 4 or 5 defenders alone. An action as a symbol of this team of France who dares, who crosses but who does not conclude. But the French three-quarters showed encouraging signs. There was this revival of Médard, the déboulés on his wing of Penaud, the fulgurances of Thomas, all orchestrated by a hinge in the right tempo. The pair Bastareaud-Doumayrou, effective in defense, also tried to put speed by passing tense or skipped, at the risk of being intercepted. She is also at work on the second try, Doumayrou disrupting the reception of the back Springboks, Basta recovering the inflate to flatten and dig a gap that will prove insufficient.