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Tuilagi always more promising
His two entries during the match gave a glimpse of the potential.
This time launched from the start, the 19-year-old phenomenon did not disappoint.
With his 149 kg, pushing against the buttocks of Atonio's 147, Posolo Tuilagi did damage on the right axis of the French scrum.
It was expected.
With the ball in hand, he also advanced: 14 meters gained in six charges.
But he also helped his teammates win, like when he grabbed Cyril Baille in contact (22nd).
With his mass, he even broke the line and was very close to scoring his first try in blue (36th).
But the Perpignan player also won over with his ease with the ball in his hands.
Player from the Islands (Samoa in his case), the heir to the Tuilagi dynasty knows how to serve on a step, or behind the back, or after contact.
Which he achieved six times.
The Angel's Smile
The Italian attempt to equalize, in the 70th minute, was signed by the inevitable Angel Capuozzo.
Barely used until then, the Toulouse player was quick to flatten his 11th ball in 18 selections.
Nice ratio for the back of the Squadra Azzurra regularly decisive for his team, as during the exploits against Wales or Australia.
Also read: Six Nations: “I apologize to all of Italy,” sighs the unfortunate scorer, Paolo Garbisi
CLAW STRIKES
Review the finishes of the blue house
Fabien Galthié was right to deplore the gap, at the end of the first period, between the flattering possession and occupation statistics of the Blues and the poor performance: 10 points scored, including only one try (and again, the decision to the referee to grant it to Ollivon was generous…).
With more than 20 defenders beaten (33 in total), the score should have increased.
Yes, but there you have it, in the minus column, we find twenty balls lost by forward passes, sweaty hands, poorly controlled rucks or even imprecise footwork.
A real massacre of opportunities.
The Italians didn't ask for that much.
And the poor spectators wonder where this rascal French Flair has hidden again, whose return we were praising until recently.
Lack of leadership
Antoine Dupont in athletics sessions with an oval ball in Canada and Grégory Alldritt the suture in the still fragile thigh, the captaincy had gone to Charles Ollivon, official interim of the function for two years.
The great Charles has shown his stature as a leader in the past.
Not in Lille.
He also admitted it implicitly:
“We felt strong in the carried balls, the scrums and we insisted a little too much perhaps in these sectors.
(…) This impression of physical domination in front was perhaps a bad impression.
We probably fished a little in the right proportion..."
In other words, he did not know how to slow down his forwards who wanted to break everything to encourage his three-quarters to vary the game more. Alldritt, responsible for carrying tee and tee refreshing drinks on Sunday at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium should perhaps have blown him away.
But the Toulonnais is not the only one responsible for this lack of leadership.
The guarantors of the game, Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert, did not take their part.
Did not know how to assert their authority by deciding to play this way and not like that.
For an unpleasant sensation of headless chickens preferring to fart in the door than to pass through the open windows, running everywhere but not in rhythm, a sum of individual scores for a cacophony for lack of conductor(s).
And the fucking discipline!
This problem is undoubtedly linked to the previous ones.
Errors generating growing frustration, between the desire to perform their act to make up for it and the need to make the Italian opposite pay for their mistakes who, however, had nothing to do with it.
And no general to order his spinning troop to stop the bullshit.
Result.
Twelve penalties conceded and a new red card.
It's starting to add up to a lot just for this Tournament: yellow then red for Willemse against Ireland;
yellow (very orange) for Atonio in Scotland;
bunkered red for Danty against Italy.
“All these boxes don’t help us,” logically confirms Fabien Galthié.
They clearly put us in difficulty by disrupting our balance.
These faults – high contacts – we work a lot on body position to avoid them.”