Electric Louis Bielle-Biarrey helps to renew Frances World Cup optimism

With Penaud in lethal form and Dupont close to a possible return, Les Bleus will fancy their chances in the knockout stages

Fans have had little to cheer at OL Stadium recently. With the resident football team winless this season, it was a visit from the all-conquering rugby side that brought the Lyon crowd back to its feet, as Les Bleus duly dispatched a wounded Italy on Friday.

The pool stage closer will have quelled some of the doubts that arose during the last month, as the ingredients that have made Fabien Galthié’s four-year reign a resounding success so far came together once again.

Antoine Dupont was back on the pitch – albeit only for the pre-match stroll, and wearing his match-day suit. An improbably rapid return to action from injury does remain possible, although the France setup will remain cautious for now. The renewed optimism around the team could yet be dampened if, on Monday, the captain does not get the green light to play from the surgeon who operated on his broken cheekbone.

Deputising for Dupont, Maxime Lucu turned in a more than serviceable performance alongside his Bordeaux teammate Matthieu Jalibert. However, the overriding feeling is that Dupont would be decisive in the higher-stakes knockout games.

Only Damian Penaud comes close to rivalling the captain’s star power. The wing’s double on Friday leaves him only three tries short of Serge Blanco’s all-time record of 38 for Les Bleus – dizzyingly high numbers, considering he has only just turned 27. A tally of 13 tries in his last seven France starts comfortably sets him apart as rugby’s finest finisher at the moment.

While Penaud’s devastating efficiency has come as no surprise, it is his soon-to-be club-mate on the opposite wing who is only just registering on the international radar. Louis Bielle-Biarrey was one of the few players to emerge with some credit from the muddled showing offered up by the B team against Uruguay, along with Peato Mauvaka. Against Los Teros, he became France’s youngest World Cup debutant (overtaking Romain Ntamack) and try-scorer.

The 20-year-old, who accidentally hung up on the head coach when he was first called up this summer, is missing his university exams to play at the tournament. “Honestly, it hasn’t sunk in yet. It doesn’t feel like I’m playing at a World Cup,” he told Midi Olympique.

Like one of his opponents on Friday, Ange Capuozzo, Bielle-Biarrey was raised in the outskirts of Grenoble. He came through the youth ranks before being snapped up by Bordeaux at 18. The invariably red-capped wing is another example of France’s seemingly bottomless reserve of talent – he pipped the top try-scorer from last year’s Top 14 campaign, Pau’s Émilien Gailleton, to a place in the squad.

Bielle-Biarrey knows how to make an attention-grabbing first impression. He announced himself with a hat-trick against Scarlets on his first Bordeaux start in January 2022, and went over within 15 minutes of his senior international debut in the warm-up game in Scotland in August. Described as a “little genius” by Jalibert, he is in effect the only player to have lastingly altered Galthié’s four-year team-building project.

He was initially due to play in the Under-20 World Cup earlier this year, but was plucked from the team to take part in the senior World Cup preparation campaign. While Galthié has insisted that picking “LBB” for the final pool matches does not mean he has made a “definitive” decision for the rest of the tournament, Gabin Villière faces an uphill struggle to earn his place back.

The optimism drummed up by the opening win over the All Blacks was slightly dimmed by the laboured and error-strewn performance against Uruguay. With little to take away from the thrashing of Namibia – which was overshadowed by Dupont’s injury anyway – the win over Italy was the first match in nearly a month from which France could draw meaningful conclusions.

There were characteristically colossal performances from Grégory Alldritt, Charles Ollivon and Anthony Jelonch – the entire back row missed only one tackle between them. The ruck speed was quicker than in any of the team’s matches so far, with try-scoring opportunities created out of relatively short spells of possession.

France’s kicking was executed to perfection (especially compared with Italy’s distinct lack thereof), with Penaud and Jalibert setting up tries from their boots. Shaun Edwards will have also been pleased to see an improvement in defensive discipline, with only six penalties conceded – although France kept their lowest tally in this department for the curtain-raiser, when they were penalised a mere four times.

Now, though, is when the real test begins. “Our next game, on Sunday, will be another World Cup final. I don’t say that lightly,” Galthié proclaimed. The weight of expectation on the hosts, who have not advanced past the last eight since 2011, means the match against Ireland, South Africa or Scotland will indeed feel like one.

After touring across the country over the past month, the hosts will be back at the Stade de France for the first time since the opening game – and will be hoping it is the first of a trio of headline shows.

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