France are up and running. Well, most of them. Their wing and most involved outside back, Yoann Huget, left the pitch hanging between two field medics. A touch of elegance departed with him. Not that this encounter had anything of the grace of Brighton about it.
This was no blossoming of the naïf, no rising of Japan. This was mean. Nobody does a spirit of hostility quite like Louis Picamoles. If it is disguised it is only beneath a heavy, sardonic brow. He is anything but a Cherry Blossom in build. The No8 is dense of muscle and even denser of skeleton. He is tall and has such a presence on the field – like Dean Richards used to have – that the ball seems to seek him out. Take me to the big one, that I may be held like a pip.
Picamoles is not unflappable of temperament like a Cherry Blossom, being unfailingly Gallic at all times. He was dropped last year from France’s Six Nations squad after applauding the referee Alain Rolland for sending him to the sin-bin. He popped out of a maul here to collar Edoardo Gori. He smiled wolfishly at the scrum-half in his grip, human fruit held like a seed. He was penalised.
Earlier he had caught a restart and set off on a run, leaving light blue shirts in his deep red wake. Huget raced to position himself for the try-scoring pass. Picamoles ignored his Toulouse team-mate – or rather, he didn’t offer what the wing wanted, only what big Louis had in mind. It was a kick, almost delicately threaded downfield. It came to nothing as Tommaso Allan covered back. Picamoles shrugged. The No8 is going to be a wonderfully brooding figure at this World Cup.
The other giant in the French pack, Yoann Maestri, did not cut such an imposing figure. He was fine while buried in the systems of the collective, but found himself exposed in possession on a couple of occasions. He had to stoop to gather a ball going backwards near his own posts and made a right mess of it, nearly gifting a try to Gori.
On another occasion he was under instruction to send the ball wide in midfield. It went forward. There are things the French forwards can do – and they are better left to Picamoles. There are things Maestri can do – and they are best left unseen. When it comes to assessing France it is never unwise to leave things a little obscure.
