France are the big story of international rugby in 2021. From the strong showing against Italy to an assured victory over Ireland, Les Bleus have continued to make good on the promise they showed in 2020. They have also been innovative, and their first try against the men in green shows a new development of their lineout attack.
Starting in the Ireland 50m zone, gives France a perfect opportunity to attack. France call a 6 man lineout. The 6 men in the lineout are 5 forwards and Antoine Dupont who is hidden at the front of the lineout. Matthieu Jalibert acts as receiver, providing France with their two playmakers immediately available from the lineout.
This system with both halfbacks hovering around the lineout allows France to spread the ball earlier. This is because as the ball is thrown, Ollivon catches while Dupont begins to move, attacking the pass down with speed. The French scrum half being quickly able to get the ball and spin a simple pass to Jalibert allows the move to flow. Matthieu Jallibert, who bounces out, can then receive the ball on the gain line.
Matthieu Jalibert bouncing out holds Josh van der Flier, the connecting defender, of the advancing defensive line. Jallibert is also attacking Josh van der Flier on the gainline, as the France 10 only has to take a couple of steps backward before attacking the pass. The connection to a midfield pod allows France to attack Burns in the Irish defence, despite Ireland trying to hide their Fly Half with two forwards on the inside, and the strong tackle of Henshaw on the outside. Jalibert unleashes Fickou down his Burns’ channel. The French centre wins the collision stepping inside to beat Burns and splitting the Irish defence. Fickou is positioned on the outside of a flat crash pod. The pod also contains Alldritt, not used in the lineout who can offer protection of the ball and allows France a fast ruck.
This quick ball allows France to unsettle the Irish defence. With Billy Burns still retreating from his missed tackle, Henshaw has to hold on the advancing blockers on Dupont’s shoulder. This allows France to beat the Irish fringe and target Josh van der Flier’s (Red Scrum Cap) channel. The Flanker becomes isolated as Ringrose tries to spook the French attack inside. With Josh van der Flier over running Jallibert, who gladly takes the opportunity to carve the inside with his outside well defended. This linebreak allows France to show what has made them so wonderful to watch over the last year. The break is incredibly well supported allowing France to throw audacious offloads and take risks. This is because every ball carrier always has at least one passing option available to use. Dupont’s piece of magic gives Penaud the ball and allows the winger to cut inside and take play 5m out from the Irish line.
Following the linebreak the French flood the channel off 9 with forwards running at pace. This prevents Irish players reloading to the opposite edge of the field. The linebreak has had a particularly massive effect on the position of Ireland’s backs. Due to speed of the French attack, only Jamison Gibson-Park is on the openside of the field. This means that France are effectively attacking a 2 v 2 when the ball reaches Fickou, the centre can quickly go around Ruddock despite a poor pass, and free Ollivon. Ollivon has an easy run in, as the Irish Scrum Half jams in and misses Fickou’s offload. This is likely an individual error and Gibson-Park has reacted to the bounce of the ball. However, this should not take away from the fantastic French score.
However it was not the only time this French lineout innovation has led to a scoring opportunity. Another lineout in Ireland’s 50m zone allows France to attack using the same innovation. This time however, rather than having Fickou carry hard, Jallibert passes to Alldritt at the centre of the French pod. This is maybe because Fickou has lagged slightly behind the centre of the pod. However, Ireland have also shifted CJ Stander and Burns around, this means Alldritt is also the best placed carrier to target the Fly Half. This allows Alldritt to make a positive carry and breach the gainline.
The French again followed with a second phase close to the ruck. Julien Marchand charges around the ruck, running a hard line off Dupont. The hole opens for Marchand due to a number of different factors. The carry from Alldritt has trapped both Burns and Stander on the floor, who unlike the previous phase are unable to rejoin the defensive line. Dupont has also stepped off the base taking the interests of Herring at guard while Josh van der flier is in two minds about the different options around him. This creates an indecision which leads to two weak tackle attempts from the fringe defenders and that allow Marchand to bust through and make ground.
While the final phase does backfire, with the ball fired off Jelonch’s head, France still create the opportunity to score. Indeed, France fractured the Irish line completely, creating a massive disconnect between both Ringrose (Blue Circle Below) who was leading the outside channel defence, and the folding fringe defender (Black Circle Below) who got held by the French players in the breakdown. Another key part of this is the action of Henshaw (Red Circle Below) who steps behind the ruck, unsure that Marchand has been stopped. This means he doesn’t have enough time to reposition and leaves a gaping hole (White Box) through which France can almost flood.
The French have provided an incredible highlights reel of attacking play within the first two rounds especially from lineout attack. The innovation in these attack sequences is incredibly precise, allowing France to dictate the flow to the defence. Having Dupont at scrum half obviously helps Les Bleus pull off these masterful attacks, but they are mainly built around ornate strike moves which target very specific defenders, and a side’s defensive weaknesses. I personally cannot wait to see what Fabien Galthie pulls out of the French toolkit, against Scotland.
If you have enjoyed looking at the French lineout innovations as much as I did. Then feel free to check out this small Youtube video showing various other examples of their attack.
The Analysis Guy 