French rugby really should still be basking in the moral-winners’ glow of last Sunday’s Autumn Nations’ Cup final – but, these days, reality comes at you harder than a Georgian prop at an attacking 5m scrum.
For a brief moment, though, France basked. Comeback king Brice Dulin was named player of the tournament. The rugby Press ran back-slapping pieces – one highlighting the relative strengths of France’s ‘First XV’, its ‘replacements XV’ and its ‘substitutes XV’ was a particular favourite.
Pundits fell over themselves competing to rain plaudits on everyone and anyone connected with France...