Another successful Autumn came to an end for France with the visit of Japan. Les Bleus’ decision to play their strongest available XV as a clear mark of respect to their opponents, who had the first attack of note as Kazuki Himeno sniped off a ruck and carried into the 22, though a handling error eventually ended the pressure and a penalty at the scrum allowed the hosts to clear their lines. France were soon on the attack, though, and after phases of pressure on the edge of the 22, Romain Ntamack’s grubber was kicked on by Damian Penaud, and when fullback Ryohei Yamanaka failed to keep hold of it as he covered across, Penaud dived on the loose ball for the opening try. As conditions worsened, Japan struggled to deal with the French conveyor belt of hard carriers, eventually gifting Thomas Ramos the simplest of penalties, and he added another just after the 15 minute mark as Koo Ji-won obstructed France’s routes to the kicker, while Les Bleus were forced into a reshuffle of their backs due to an injury to Gaël Fickou, resulting in Yoram Moefana moving into 13 and back row Sekou Macalou again coming on as a wing. Japan finally got on the scoreboard as the first quarter ended; Ntamack choosing to run back a kick with no support led to him being turned over, and Anthony Jelonch was forced to illegally slow down the Japanese breakdown to give Lee Seung-Sin an easy kick off the tee. Japan had a half-chance soon after as a tip-on off the top of a French lineout failed to find it’s man and scrum half Naoto Saito kicked on, but though he beat his opposition to the ball, his next kick on was overhit and saw the ball go dead. The late deluge of rain was affecting French plans as the ball became slippery in hands, but the monstrous carrying of the French pack won a penalty in front of the posts for Ramos to convert with 30 minutes gone. And as the game approached halftime, Maxime Lucu took advantage of some confusion after another ball came off the top of the lineout to break down the 5m channel, before feeding his captain Charles Ollivon for the try, Ramos adding the extras for a 21-3 lead at the break.
Japan has started the first half with a breakaway, and they did again for the second half, with Shogo Nakano shooting through agap, but this time the immediate support was there on his shoulder from Saito to take the pass and go over for the try, Seung-Sin converting. Franc were soon back to controlling the game as their powerful carries in midfield made space for the backs to exploit out wide, though there were some moments where they still looked somewhat disjointed. A cut to the bridge of his nose that caused heavy bleeding brought an end to Ntamack’s game, with Matthieu Jalibert coming on, and his clever mid-length kick down the wing caused nightmares for the Japanese defence and allowed him to recover it and feed Bastien Chalureauto carry the ball up to 5m out, and when the ball was fed back, it was spread wide to the left for Damian Penaud to score his second of the game. However, an error at the restart from Grégory Alldritt gifted the Brave Blossoms a penalty kick to the corner, and a clever planned move off the top saw Siosaia Fifita sent over untouched. France looked to immediately answer and thought they had when Penaud put Jonathan Danty over in the corner, but replays showed that though his dive avoided him stepping into touch, the ball was dotted down on the touch-in-goal line. But France secured the victory with 7 minutes remaining. A cheeky chip and collect into the Japanese 22 from Matthieu Jalibert put the defence in disarray, and when the ball came out to Danty on the wing, he played it back inside to Anthony Jelonch to score. However Jalibert’s next action was not so silky: winning the chase of a kick back into his in-goal, but then trying to play his way out and floating the offload into touch, but the French defence held firm on their line and secured the turnover, along with a 35-17 victory that secures an unbeaten 2022 for Les Bleus.
Wing forward
Sekou Macalou may have just secured his spot in the 23 over the last couple of weeks. A back row by trade, the 27-year-old has come on early in both matches due to injuries, but with France favouring a 6-2 split with Matthieu Jalibert and a scrum half covering the backs, he has found himself coming on to play wing.
And while many forwards in his situation would do their best impersonation of a fish out of water, jelonch put in performances that actually looked like a Test wing. His pace was enough to hold his own, while his positioning was extremely impressive, especially in defence, where he would not commit himself too early and knew to use his touchline as an extra defender.
So why does this secure his space in the 23? For the exact potential situations we have seen the last 2 weeks. France clearly have the preference of a 6-2 split, but when you look at their ideal 23, it leaves them with nobody to cover the wings. However, if you have a forward who can do such an impressive job there—just consider the quality of wing he has faced over recent weeks—it allows Fabien Galthié to select the extra forward on the bench safe in the knowledge that Macalou can cover an emergency at wing, making it effectively a 5.5-2.5 split instead.
Unprepared
This Japan side was heavily changed from the one who lost to England last week, and that just highlighted one massive point: This team is still trying to find themselves one year out from the World Cup.
Much like Georgia and Fiji, they are a team who have the quality to take Tier 1 scalps, but without being in the Six Nations or Rugby Championship, they do not get the regular fixtures against Tier 1 opposition that they need to stop these occasional victories being an upset, and arguably they do not get enough matches period, which has certainly not been helped by the impact of COVID earlier in the cycle.
Rugby has reached an important point in its life. The top teams outside Tier 1 need to be playing in major competitions against Tier 1 opposition with regularity in order to keep growing, while teams like Chile and Portugal making it to the World Cup at the expense of the USA, who just a few years ago were in incredible form, has highlighted just how close everything is getting below Tier 1.
The international calendar needs a shake-up sooner rather than later. It is probably time for at least another 4 nations to be added to the World Cup, while existing Tier 1 competitions (the Six Nations and Rugby Championship) need amending or replacing to keep with the times and acknowledge the growth of rugby around the world.
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Eyes on the Ball 