Les Bleuets have started their build-up to the U20 Men’s Six Nations with the aim of winning a title that has all too often slipped through their fingers.
Sébastien Calvet, their coach, gets straight to the point: "It's worth remembering that the U20s have rarely won the Six Nations Championship".
Three wins in all, out of sixteen tournaments. The last was in 2018, and since then the French have always finished second. The last Grand Slam was in 2014. That was ten years ago – an eternity for this age group.
At the time, Fabien Pelous was the coach of a group that included a number of future senior Internationals such as Arthur Iturria, Yacouba Camara, François Cros and Baptiste Serin, as well as two players who will likely be involved in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Stephen Parez and Paulin Riva.
Yet in the same timeframe, Les Bleuets have become three-time world champions. "So, it remains a real objective for us to win this competition," insists Calvet, who shoulders the burden of smashing this particular glass ceiling – if possible, this year.
Rotating 45 players during the Championship
The current French management believe they have all the tools available to them to achieve what few teams have done before. "When we talk to our colleagues from other nations, they are always impressed by the individual level of our players. There is no such thing as a great team without great players," says Calvet. "The good fortune of French rugby in recent years has been the collaboration between the clubs and the federation, which have very much complemented each other.
“It helps players progress quickly and perform well at an age when they haven't yet reached maturity. Just look at the participation of our champions who are still eligible to play in the Top 14 and Pro D2. We've broken all records this year."
There is a flipside to all this. With players of this quality, not only might clubs be reluctant to release them for the duration of the Championship, but the French national team may also
be interested in certain individuals. The latest example is Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who was snapped up from the U20s just before the World Championship to help him perform at Rugby World Cup 2023. And in this scenario, the U20s come third.
"So, in fact, we have to work with a very large group because we know that every year in the Six Nations Championship, we always rotate a minimum of 45 players. Over the three blocks of the tournament, 45 players will be rotating, so that calls for a certain complexity," admits the coach, who has been in post for a year now.
A continuum from one age group to the next
Although to follows that most of the squad changes each year, the French system means that players very quickly fit into the mould of the U20 project, having been shaped since they were at U16 level. As a result, the goal of winning the Championship is passed down from generation to generation.
Calvet explains: "What positively surprises us is that our cross-functional work is paying off. The players are already familiar with the game plan. Our message gets across very quickly because they've been used to the high-level system, as we also work with the Pôle Espoir academies. It's great to see a continuum, a real cross-functional approach that saves us time when we get them back.”
He makes no secret of the fact that experience is essential and that if a team doesn't win, they learn. That's what he wants to take away from the 22-18 defeat to Italy in the warm-up match on 6 January.
Leading at half-time, Les Bleuets fell behind before coming back to within four points in extra time. A burst of pride that came a little late.
"The Italians showed what we're looking for: a lot of commitment, strong in attack, strong in contact areas; they press you defensively," admits the coach, who says he's "always pleasantly surprised to see that our opponents work well and are constantly improving. It's a plus for us, so we can prepare well."
Little time to study the opposition
The difficulty with this age group - "and that's what makes it so exciting", according to the coach – is that you must analyse your opponent very quickly to be able to beat them. There are no observation rounds.
"Take the Irish, for example: when we meet them at U19 level - on the tour where we visit them every year - the team that turns up the following year is completely different. They're always much stronger than what they showed the year before," says Calvet. "This year, we’re expecting tough matches in France against Ireland and England. After that, we know
full well that the Scots, the Welsh and the Italians, as we've seen, can field strong teams and surprise us too. “So, the Six Nations Championship is always a new experience. That's why our age group is interesting, because the Six Nations is about discovery, and we have to be
good at discovering things. There are fewer surprises with the senior teams. “It's a competition that's very important to us and every nation wants to win. It's a very complex competition and that's why it's so exciting, because you have to find out about the nations quickly, quickly discover their values, quickly work out what they're like in just a few matches and then quickly try to perform against them."
After their initial preparation camp in the first week of January, the French U20s are planning a second, this time together with the senior squad leading up to their first clash against Ireland in Aix-en-Provence on 3 February.
This will be followed by a visit to Scotland six days later, the visit of Italy on 23 February, a trip to Wales on 7 March before welcoming England to Pau on 15 March.
