France's stranglehold on rugby underlined by U20's success

The best league, player and youth team in the world and the best club team in Europe – we are almost in the territory of French rugby’s roll of honour requiring a ‘long read’ label.

Those are the facts. The disputables: the senior French team contains many World XV contenders; Toulouse are currently the most entertaining top-tier team on the planet; and south-west France is globally the richest and most fertile rugby heartland. Rugby is France’s currently; we are all just tagging along with it.

Friday’s emphatic Under-20s championship victory, defeating Ireland 50-14 in South Africa, exemplified the hegemony. Barring a 20-minute spell from England, no team came close to touching the power and panache of France as Les Bleuets secured their third successive world crown. The starting XV for the final already have nearly 6,000 minutes of rugby in France’s top two leagues under their belts. They won every game by a 20-point margin or greater, it was a procession.

Owing to his brawn, Posolo Tuilagi, the behemoth son of former Samoa, Leicester and Perpignan No 8 Henry - and nephew of Manu – became the icon of that Under-20 world title, but that is a side studded with future stars. Terrifyingly, Tuilagi - at 19 – will be available for next year’s instalment, but he is not alone. As highlighted by French rugby aficionado, Paul Eddison, on Twitter, 13 of France’s title-winning matchday 23 are still all under-19s. Marko Gazzotti, the No 8, is Gregory Alldritt reincarnate and it would come as a surprise to precisely no one if Baptiste Jauneau found himself as Antoine Dupont’s understudy at some point in the near future.

Lest we forget, too, that France obliterated all in their path in South Africa without their two best players: both Emilien Gailleton and Louis Bielle-Biarrey are currently preparing for the senior World Cup with Fabien Galthie’s squad, so were unavailable.

To recall the scenes of France’s domestic final, too, is to almost dip into another rugby dimension. A sell-out at the Stade de France, featuring teams 400km and 600km from Paris respectively, was not high on quality but it brimmed with notoriety. The ending was a thriller, with Romain Ntamack snatching the title from the grasp of La Rochelle and nestling it into the Toulousain trophy cabinet - all in front of a watching Emmanuel Macron. The French president even had time to disappear into the bowels of the Stade de France at the end of the game and down a beer with the victorious Toulouse side. It makes one wonder whether dear Rishi was even aware of the Premiership final (perhaps he was, if only for the presence of the Just Stop Oil protesters).

Yet, the crown jewel still evades France. Losing finalists in three World Cups, Les Bleus are still yet to lift the Webb Ellis Cup aloft. Favourites they might be, at their home World Cup in two months’ time, but notwithstanding the rude health of French rugby, no one in L’Hexagone will be taking victory for granted. Of course, it is rugby’s treasure, and the boon that an inaugural World Cup win would give France cannot be overstated. In many ways, however – and the guillotines will be sharpened for the temerity of this – it almost does not matter. If Galthie’s side are stung, stumbling to defeat in an 80-minute knockout match in this autumn’s showpiece, it will not come to define the shape of French rugby.

We should all strap in for an era of French dominance no matter which side lifts the trophy in Saint-Denis on October 28.