All Saints Day may still be less than a fortnight away but
two countries clearly need redemption from the saints.
If events are anything to go by, it is safe to say that in
the month of October in the year 2015, we have seen the death of flair in
French rugby and Dutch football.
Growing up, we always talked about the excitement and thrills
of the likes of Serge Blanco, Christophe Dominici, Dennis Bergkamp, Marc
Overmars, etc.
Alas, it seems the days when the Tricolors and Oranje
provided the entertainment in rugby and football are history as both France and
the Netherlands limped out of the Rugby World Cup and Euro 2016.
To be fair, the Dutch’s exit from Euro 2016 was down to
their attempts to rediscover the flair that the great Dutch sides of the 1970s
and 1980s had but was extinguished by Bert van Maarjwik and Louis van Gaal’s
ethos of winning at all costs. While the Dutch finished 2nd and 3rd
in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, flair is not a word you would associate with
those sides. Indeed, brutality would be pretty apt particularly if you recall the
image of Nigel de Jong’s boot to Xabi Alonso’s chest in the Final.
Nevertheless, the current generation of Dutch footballers have
been taught to play a more physical side of football and are no longer of
capable of playing with the flair that their predecessors and neighbours,
Belgium are capable of. The jury is still out on Manchester United’s Memphis
Depay and even he alone can’t be expected to lift the Dutch from football
mediocrity.
It seems that French rugby is in a similar predicament as
Dutch football.
The reason why Les Bleus have matched the All Blacks and
beaten them in the past has been that they have been able to match them for
flair and passion. Structure has never been a part of the French game, hence
the reason for the inconsistency of results, and obviously coaches since Bernard
Laporte have been trying to instill the discipline and professionalism that has
seen the Southern Hemisphere sides dominate rugby.
Alas, it seems in their quest for structure, French flair
has been sacrificed and the 2015 Les Bleus side is a sad shadow of the great
sides that have upset the All Blacks in the past with brilliant but aging stars
littered amongst journeymen who couldn’t make their own national side – le Roux,
Spedding, Kockott, etc.
The signs have been around for some time – the last 10 years
in fact. The lack of a consistent, world-class first five since the retirement
of Thierry Lacroix has always stymied French and followed by the retirements/non-selections
of great backs like Yannick Jauzion, Aurelien Rougerie, Vincent Clerc, Maxine
Medard etc. has left a very dull and laboured French side.
With those red jerseys, Les Bleus could easily have passed
off as the English rugby team.
Against a highly skilled and motivated All Blacks team, the
French under Phillippe Saint-Andre – a fine coach himself having guided Sale to
the Premiership and Toulon to European finals – were clearly on a lower level,
and the exercise of exorcising the demons of 1978, 1986, 1994, 1999, 2007 and
2009 when the ABs lost to France was harrowing and could have potentially sent
French rugby 30 years back in time.
There will be a new coach in charge of the French side from November
onwards, but he will have a massive job to bring back the flair and passion
that French rugby is all supposed to be about. Just like Danny Blind will be
trying to bring back total football to the Dutch national team.
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