There was a moment of slight fear.
The English, taking advantage of the traditional low time of the Blues on the return from the locker room, had pierced a defense suddenly less alert, and winger Freddie Steward had flattened on his wing.
18-13 (48th) and the stress was suddenly back.
But the French are solid, both physically and mentally.
They therefore got their hands on the ball, in the wake of an omnipresent Antoine Dupont.
And, at the hour mark, on a trickster charge from Grégory Alldritt, who was inside to blow up the Stade de France?
The tricolor captain of course.
A fuss, an acceleration for an oh so liberating test (25-13, 60th).
To discover
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Twenty minutes remained for the deliverance.
Glory.
A Grand Slam awaited for twelve years by all French rugby.
At the final whistle, the level of decibels reached by the Dionysian enclosure made it possible to measure the strength of the pride and happiness of the supporters.
That of the players was just as intense.
On the lawn, smiles and hugs, goat jumps and cries of joy.
In tune with a capsized, screaming Stade de France.
Proud.
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A just reward as the first period had been frustrating, annoying.
The Blues dominated but too many handballs prevented them from taking off.
Gaël Fickou, put on a boulevard after a nice placed attack, let the ball escape (6th).
In the 14th, Ntamack and Penaud were embarrassed at the reception of one from Danty who had pierced the English defense in its heart.
Served by Jaminet with a pass that was admittedly a little low, Villière in turn made a mistake on his wing (27').
Infuriating.
Fortunately, in the 15th minute, a long pass from Romain Ntamack to Fickou on the right wing had allowed the Blues to score a first try (8-0, 15th) at the conclusion of a major action.
For the rest, the English alternated between full iron charges and footwork in abundance.
But the tricolor defense was watching.
And Melvyn Jaminet, bombarded in particular by Ben Youngs, was doing quite well.
In the 20th minute, the back of Perpignan even performed a glide over Jack Nowell.
But the South African referee Jaco Peyper estimated after video that Penaud had committed an obstruction.
And returned the penalty in favor of the XV de la Rose under the boos of the Stade de France.
Marcus Smith responded to Melvyn Jaminet facing the posts and, at the half-hour mark, the dominating Blues were only leading 11-6.
We were heading towards this short lead at the break when, just before returning to the locker room, the XV of France launched a last major offensive.
Romain Ntamack inherited the ball in the English 22 meters.
He escaped the first defenders before being caught at the end of the sock.
But the fronts, in support, pushed and François Cros extended his arm to flatten on the line.
Test transformed for a more comfortable 18-6 at halftime.
The Blues were launched towards the Grand Slam…