Fickou feels it’s France’s year at last

By JAMES HARRINGTON

PREVIEW…

France v Italy

Today. Kick-off 3pm, Stade de France

GAEL Fickou admits pressure is mounting on the hugely talented French to lift the Six Nations title.

“Everyone is looking for that: our supporters, us most of all,” he said. “We're going to try to win the title but we know it won't be easy because there are a lot of great teams up against us.”

France – after two second-placed finishes following years in the fourth-fifth doldrums – are pre-tournament favourites for a title they haven't won since 2010.

In public, Fickou – and those before and after him on media duty – have been politely pouring the cold water of realism on sudden fires of expectation. In private, Fickou and his teammates are less shy about their intentions. “This year it's ours,” the centre told players in no uncertain terms during one training session.

Proof, if it was needed, that France plan a serious assault on the title, came with the release of a fullbore squad for this match against Italy.

Head coach Fabien Galthie, who has tested positive for Covid, has gone big with selection surprises limited to the absence of Bernard Le Roux and Matthieu Jalibert.

Cameron Woki is preferred to Le Roux at No.4 while Jalibert's absence is explained by a recent thigh injury that kept him out of the Bordeaux squad for two weeks. France have decided not to risk him today, giving Thomas Ramos a go off the bench, either at full-back or fly-half.

There is no shifting the certainty of belief that Les Bleus will put on a cricket score in their opening fixture against Kieran Crowley's Italy. That's not just grossly unfair to today's visitors to Stade de France, already hotly tipped as Wooden Spoonists for a seventh time in a row, it also ignores two important factors.

The first is preparation. France's two-week Six Nations training camp kicked off at Foreign Legion headquarters in the south of the country, minus no fewer than 11 key players because of Covid-19 and injury, including Antoine Dupont, right, Romain Ntamack, Jalibert and Woki.

Dupont and Ntamack united at halfback for the first time since December 11 in Toulouse's surprise Top 14 home defeat to Racing 92 last weekend. It was the former's first match in 49 days.

Galthie recently insisted France have, “learned to manage crisis situations over the past two years…it allows us to transform problems into opportunities”. He's been able to recall all his big-match influencers including captain Dupont. But there's also no doubt Les Bleus' preparations have had to be adapted on the hoof because of early absences so they are slightly undercooked.

The second factor is the ever-underestimated Azzurri themselves. New head coach Crowley is far from a mug – he guided Canada to 12th in World Rugby's standings. And he's looking at a squad that's in much better shape than his predecessors because of the behind-the-scenes work carried out by Conor O'Shea.

The former Ireland full-back didn't have much joy on the pitch during his time as Italy coach. But when the history of Italian rugby in the 21stcentury is written, he will be recognised as a system gamechanger.

Crowley's side is heavy on youth and potential gleaned from the rapidly improving age-grade set-up. Their 23-year-old captain Michele Lamaro, impressive though he is, has only ten caps, Sebastian Negri and Marco Fuser are the joint most-capped players with 36, and there are two uncapped players in the starting line-up and two more on the bench. They should not have the smarts to challenge France for 80 minutes.

But it's also possible to see, in this callow squad, a different approach to the game, with youthful players who have the hang of winning matches.

If it all sounds a little familiar, think back to the first France squads under Galthie and his trust in potential over appearances. Remember the easy expectation of an England win in the opening round of the 2020 Six Nations, as Galthie's young France gave up a massive amount of experience to Eddie Jones' battle-hardened veterans. And then remember what happened: 24-17 to France.

Italy's young guns don't yet have the club experience that Galthie's players did back in 2020 but they could easily be much better than many expect.