Advertisement
It feels strange to think it now, but this time three weeks ago, the rugby world was preparing itself for a clash between the champions of each hemisphere, one where the Six Nations champions could have at least some claim at being the best side in the world if they were to win it. The question of who is the world’s premier side is about the only question that Les Bleus have helped answer definitively in the intervening three weeks (clue: it’s not France). The rest of their campaign, however, has left plenty of other questions unanswered - and it has thrown up a fair few more too.
This may seem a pessimistic opening. After all, France won two of their three games this autumn, and did so with a hefty injury list that only lengthened after that Springboks battering. Injuries are part and parcel of the game, and absentees have to be taken as a given these days, but how would other nations fare without their two first choice tightheads, their captain & orchestrator, and a host of some of their best performers from 2025?
Nevertheless, having sat in 4th place in the World Rugby Rankings for most of the year, France now sit 5th, having struggled to overcome Fiji and Australia. There is clearly no shame in losing to this current Springbok side, but two wins would have been the bare minimum expectations, and they would have expected them to come much more easily than they did. On top of the systemic player drain issues, Australia had to battle an unenviable test match schedule this year and its accompanying injury list, while the structural and financial resources of Fiji pale in comparison to those of France. And yet, France’s games against both sides were in the balance at the 70-minute mark.
With less than two years to go until the next World Cup, it feels like France are still in the process of mourning their failure at the last one. Or at the very least, they are still trying to figure out how they might prevent such agony happening again. Given the injuries and where they are in this cycle, France did have plenty of questions they needed answering at the start of November, and they have all remained unanswered.
Many of the issues facing France have been present ever since that quarter final exit, most obviously who the long-term successor to Uini Atonio will be: he did, of course, initially retire in 2023, before changing his mind. Injury to Atonio’s heir apparent - Bayonne’s Tongan-born 23 year-old Tevita Tatafu - forced Galthié to try a few of the other options. Given it is still early days in the test careers of Régis Montagne and Thomas Laclayat, they can be happy enough with how they went at the set piece, but France undoubtedly miss the ball carrying of Atonio, especially in the absence of other dynamic front rowers like Peato Mauvaka and Cyril Baille.
France did attempt at least to solve some of the issues in their ball carrying. After an impressive 2025, it was unfortunate that Mickaël Guillard got injured early on against South Africa. It was also understandable that Galthié then turned to one of his most trusted lieutenants in Grégory Alldritt. However, the conundrum about what has happened to Alldritt’s form continues, if not in defence and at the breakdown, then definitely in his ball carrying.
Meanwhile, as good as they all are individually, there is something strange about the fact that France finished November 2025 with the same starting back row as in that 2023 quarter final. At 29, 32 and 28 respectively, Anthony Jelonch, Charles Ollivon and Alldritt should be in their prime, but there is an inescapable feeling that their best years are behind them, a sense exacerbated by their injuries and the abundance of dynamic talent coming through.
A couple of years ago France could also rely on some gainline success from their midfield battering ram Jonathan Danty. In this year’s 6 Nations, Yoram Moefana was a standout for France at inside centre, stepping up from his long-held role as understudy. This autumn though, France have struggled in attack without that sort of midfield focal point and Moefana should be an automatic pick for the 6 Nations with his return from injury likely in the coming weeks. Who should partner him remains unclear. Nicolas Depoortère is probably the one France player whose stock has risen the most over the last few weeks, following his performances against Fiji and Australia. That should earn him a starting berth alongside his Union Bordeaux Bègles partner at the start of next year, but the coaching staff appear to be huge fans of Pierre-Louis Barassi, and Gaël Fickou remains an ever-present favourite.
The conversation around Romain Ntamack, another Galthié golden child, has not gone away either. He came into this autumn in arguably his best form since before the injury that caused him to miss the 2023 World Cup, not that you would have known it from his performances over the last three weeks. His performance on Saturday was the best of three typically enigmatic performances, but fans and commentators alike were left wanting more from Ntamack. Is he still the right man for the no.10 jersey? A lot seems to be pinned on Ntamack’s relationship with Antoine Dupont. With or without Dupont, isn’t the real driving force of Toulouse and France’s game plan actually Thomas Ramos, not Ntamack? And that’s before we even address the Mathieu Jalibert-shaped elephant in the room, a conundrum Galthié was able to avoid due to an untimely injury to the UBB man, from which he returned on Friday.
Either way, questions surely must be asked about how a backline with the combined attacking talent of the French champions and the European champions look so, well, ordinary? Does the blame for that, therefore, lie with Galthié and his attack coach Patrick Arlettaz? Fresh from successive seasons narrowly avoiding Top 14 relegation as head coach of Perpignan, at the time of his post-World Cup appointment, Arlettaz seemed a curious choice. There has been little in the past two years to suggest it was an inspired pick. France’s best attack these days seems to come from instinctive individual brilliance more than anything else and their typical attacking shape is a far cry from the beguiling pictures created by Toulouse and UBB.
Before kick-off at the Stade de France on Saturday, Galthié’s name got one of the bigger cheers when announced, and it seems unlikely that he will hand over the reins before 2027, whether he is the right man for the job or not. If changes aren’t made within the coaching staff, does the shake up, therefore, need to take place within the playing staff? Is now the right time to cull some of those sacred cows like Alldritt, Fickou and Ntamack? Should he trust the backbone of the side that earned so many plaudits, players that have won so many titles not just at international level, but at club level too? Or is now the time to bring through the crop of youngsters that formed France’s hold over the U20s World Championship for a sustained period?
At the equivalent point in the previous World Cup cycle, France were gearing up for a Grand Slam following an undefeated Autumn Nations Series that included a thrilling win over the All Blacks. The questions back then were happier ones: just how good can this team become? Will they go into the World Cup as favourites? Could they become France’s greatest ever side? Four years on, there is still only one way for them to answer that final question. As there was four years ago, there is certainly no question over the quality and depth of talent available to Galthié and his staff, and even with the clock ticking towards that final quiz, he has the tools to solve the many puzzles he is facing. The question is whether he can find the right answers in time.