An Odoxa survey, carried out for RTL and Winamax among a sample of 1,005 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over (including 429 rugby fans) confirms what TV audiences have been showing for several weeks.
The XV of France, after more than gloomy years, has found its place in the hearts of the French.
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Its popularity is indeed reaching new heights: 84% of French people (and 97% of rugby fans) have a good opinion.
A revival started during the 2019 World Cup. Falling to its lowest in early 2019 (60%), the popularity rating of Charles Ollivon and his partners has continued to rise since: 72% during the Japanese World Cup, 77% in January 2020 , 84% today ... Even the controversy linked to the random compliance with the health protocol and the contamination of the Blues with Covid (12 players and 4 staff members, including Fabien Galthié, tested positive) has not tainted his image.
As for rugby fans, who proclaim their attachment to this young French team, they highlight its attacking game (90%), its good individualities (89%), its solid defense (86%) and its great spirit of sacrifice (85%).
Some of these indicators have even improved by around thirty points in the space of a year and a half!
For 74% of the French, the performances of the XV of France “do good” in the current period
Increased performance for an influence which again goes beyond the purely sporting framework.
Thus, still according to this Odoxa barometer, 74% of French people say that the performances of the XV of France "are good and change ideas in the period they are going through" (93% among rugby fans).
A craze that should continue, 55% of French people and 89% of rugby fans say that these performances make them want to follow rugby and the 2023 World Cup more in France.
For players, on the other hand, it is still just as complicated to put out a headliner in a sport that is essentially collective.
Unsurprisingly, Antoine Dupont is the favorite player of the XV of France, but with only 18% of respondents.
The Toulouse scrum-half is ahead of Romain Ntamack (12%), Matthieu Jalibert (11%), Damien Penaud (8%), Teddy Thomas (7%) and the captain of the Blues, Charles Ollivon (5%).
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