"
Sorry, good game ...
" Manly handshake and straight gaze, Will Carling struck this sentence to the wounded French after each defeat, from the end of the 1980s to the middle of the following decade. A humiliating sentence. Which enraged the Blues.
"The Englishman, he looked at you so low that you necessarily wanted to stuff yourself",
says Eric Champ in a concise summary of this antagonism then at its height. It must be said that this morgue came from afar. For more than a decade, from 1975 to 1988, the XV of France humiliates his counterpart to the Rose with the regularity of an executioner. Ten victories in 14 confrontations (1 draw and only 3 defeats). And three Grand Slams at stake (1977, 1981, 1987). A dearth that the English could no longer bear.
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XV of France: autopsy of a rediscovered ambition
At the end of 1987, Geoff Cooke, a teacher, was appointed coach of the XV de la Rose to give it back its luster.
For the kick-off of the 1988 Five Nations Tournament, he launched a young 22-year-old center, Will Carling, whom he propelled…
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