Nick Mallett has slammed the behaviour of the French public after their Rugby World Cup exit which made France’s loss to England satisfying.
The former Springboks head coach was ‘very happy’ with Les Bleus’ Six Nations round two defeat at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham as he reflected on the events that happened after France’s exit from their home tournament in 2023.
France were clear favourites heading into the Six Nations fixture but were uncharacteristically inaccurate and blew several try-scoring opportunities.
Mallett pleased with an England win
In his review of the match, Mallett said that he did not think that France were overconfident but was impressed by England’s effort who he believes to be contenders for the Six Nations title this year after overcoming Les Bleus.
“I don’t think it was overconfidence, they just started so well and created all these opportunities and then the most unlikely people let them down, Antoine Dupont dropped one with the line virtually at his mercy, Louis Bielle-Biarrey too and then Damian Penaud – even though he created a couple of opportunities and it was almost as though ‘Oh we will get another in 5 minutes’,” he said on the Boks Office podcast.
“But pressure is a big thing and you get to the end of that game and I take my hat off to England and for once I’ll have to say even though I lived in and played in France – my children were born there – I was actually very happy that England won.
“Borthwick has gone through a tough time and I feel for coaches. Then I thought that the French public behaved so badly when they got knocked out of the World Cup by South Africa.
“The way they booed and performed in the final when we played against New Zealand that frankly, I thought good, I’m very pleased that England have come back.
He added: “It also makes it much more entertaining and interesting for the Six Nations, the fact that you’ve got not just two teams [Ireland and France] but you’ve got England now challenging for the title.”
Elliot Daly’s late try sealed France’s defeat with the result meaning that once again Les Bleus’ golden generation will not Grand Slam the Six Nations.
France falling short of expectation
With such a star-studded squad, expectations are high for this France team with Galthie winning just one Six Nations title since taking charge of the team. While the team has notched up impressive victories including wins over the All Blacks, this latest setback has raised questions over Galthie’s future in the role.
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However, Mallett does not believe that the head coach is under pressure but did suggest that he is still ‘shattered’ by being knocked out of the World Cup by the Springboks.
“No, I mean he’s got something like an 80% win record,” Mallett said when asked if Galthie is under pressure.
“He had one of those incredible starts where he didn’t play New Zealand and he managed to get so he’s got a very, very good win record what he hasn’t got and Dupont has said it, that this group of players are so good they should be winning Grand Slams.
“And by not winning Grand Slams and you have fingers pointing at you, it means that the standards are very high.
“I think that he was absolutely shattered by being knocked out of the World Cup, I honestly believe that they thought it was theirs for the taking. France at home, just a question of putting away South Africa and then they’d get into the final, probably play Ireland and be good enough to win I don’t think they even thought they were going to play New Zealand.
“Now in the Six Nations, they were poor last year nearly losing to Italy – they should have lost that match.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ex-springboks-coach-very-happy-with-englands-win-over-france-after-the-french-behaved-so-badly
