Petit Generals
Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2017 4:35 pm
Interesting article on the latest mercurial talent to roll off the Gallic scrum-half production line . . .
The young French scrum-half made his Six Nations debut this weekend, immediately reaffirming everything Lee Calvert loves about French rugby.
France have a very special relationship with their scrum-halves. The only other nation that has come close to having such a relationship was Australia in the George Gregan years, and that was mainly because Gregan was the most French of non-French number nines.
Baptiste Serin could become the most French number nine ever, full stop. He showed in the defeat to England that the future is bright for those of us who like their rugby just a little bit on the insouciant and insane side.
What is it about those Gallic scrum-halves? While every other rugby nation lets the outside half run the show, this is traditionally far too dull for France. They base their game around their scrum half. The successful periods of French rugby history are littered with these petit generals, those mercurial talents who run the show from the base of the scrum – the likes of Philippe Carbonneau, Fabien Galthie, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Freddie Michalak and Morgan Parra.
At the same time the men in the ten shirt were utterly forgettable pivots and functional goalkickers: the likes of Thierry Lacroix, Christophe Lamaison and Lionel Beauxis. Told you they were forgettable. As coach, Phillipe Saint Andre tried to mess with this system by moving Freddie Michalak to 10 with comically disastrous consequences and proved without doubt that moving the erratic genius out one channel is folly for the French.
Story continues here: http://news.rugbypass.com/view/a-love-l ... iste-serin
The young French scrum-half made his Six Nations debut this weekend, immediately reaffirming everything Lee Calvert loves about French rugby.
France have a very special relationship with their scrum-halves. The only other nation that has come close to having such a relationship was Australia in the George Gregan years, and that was mainly because Gregan was the most French of non-French number nines.
Baptiste Serin could become the most French number nine ever, full stop. He showed in the defeat to England that the future is bright for those of us who like their rugby just a little bit on the insouciant and insane side.
What is it about those Gallic scrum-halves? While every other rugby nation lets the outside half run the show, this is traditionally far too dull for France. They base their game around their scrum half. The successful periods of French rugby history are littered with these petit generals, those mercurial talents who run the show from the base of the scrum – the likes of Philippe Carbonneau, Fabien Galthie, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Freddie Michalak and Morgan Parra.
At the same time the men in the ten shirt were utterly forgettable pivots and functional goalkickers: the likes of Thierry Lacroix, Christophe Lamaison and Lionel Beauxis. Told you they were forgettable. As coach, Phillipe Saint Andre tried to mess with this system by moving Freddie Michalak to 10 with comically disastrous consequences and proved without doubt that moving the erratic genius out one channel is folly for the French.
Story continues here: http://news.rugbypass.com/view/a-love-l ... iste-serin
C'est vrai!