When the Welsh coaches prepared for their opening Test in Paris, they prepared to face the ‘sixth sense’ of France’s offloading game.
They knew what was coming but they could not stop it. More than half of the French starting XV play for the all-conquering Toulouse and the passe après contact is at the heart of their rugby DNA.
It stems from their power and cohesion, using the likes of 145kg lock Emmanuel Meafou to win the collision, stay on his feet and pass the ball to his support runner. The momentum quickly snowballs and it allows the French to strike again before the defence has re-set.
It was central to Toulouse’s 80-12 demolition of Leicester in the Champions Cup last month and on Saturday it will be coming to Twickenham. ‘It’s clearly a French thing,’ said Toulon fly-half Dan Biggar, who plies his trade in France’s Top14.
‘What Toulouse do really well is that offload around the ruck area. They try to have as many phases of play without any rucks, keeping the ball alive and keeping the defence moving backwards. The support lines are key, they always know who they’re passing to.
‘Most offloads come off when you’re winning collisions. When they’re offloading around that ruck, it condenses the defence because they need to lock in. All of a sudden, you can spray the ball wide when everyone’s looking in and there’s a bit more space outside. Combine those Toulouse combinations with guys like Uini Atonio and Gregory Alldritt and it’s pretty hard to stop.’
Steve Borthwick must devise a gameplan for England to bounce back in the Six Nations when they welcome France on Saturday
More than half of the French starting XV play for the all-conquering Toulouse side
The likes of 145kg lock Emmanuel Meafou is used to win the collision, stay on his feet and pass the ball to his support runner
It is not unique to the heavyweight forwards, who have a tendency to recycle through short, sharp pop passes.
Scrum-half Antoine Dupont is the orchestrator. He drifts sideways, looking for holes for his heavyweight forwards to cut in and generate momentum. If the defence bite in, Dupont has mastered the kick-pass to unleash his wingers in the space that opens out wide.
The backs constantly loop around, keeping the ball alive, with returning winger Damian Penaud finishing last year’s Six Nations with the most offloads in the competition.
‘When you shake some of the big Pacific Islanders’ hands they make you feel like you’re a five-year-old boy,’ said Biggar.
‘Some of them hold the ball like a tennis ball so he can offload in different ways. It helps to have big hands but that’s not the main thing. Penaud tends to have the ball in a little bit more space, so he’s able to step or accelerate and then flick it back inside
‘It’s drilled a lot. A lot of training drills at Toulon and other clubs set up for offloading. Sometimes it can be a bit hectic and a bit manic but that’s what they want. They want the guys to play.
‘You have touch games, 10 on 10 in a small space, and you’ve got to beat someone one on one and get an offload away. If you get choke tackled and can’t get the offload away, then it’s a turnover.’
England will be tasked with stopping the French momentum by targeting the ball in two-man tackles and stepping into the offloading lane to block the pass. It is a daunting challenge but winger Tommy Freeman is backing their chances.
Toulon fly-half Dan Biggar (right) hailed Toulouse’s ability to offload around the ruck area
The Toulouse combinations along with the likes of Uini Atonio are hard to stop, says Biggar
Winger Tommy Freeman is backing England’s chances of stopping the French momentum by targeting the ball in two-man tackles
‘They’ve got some talent in there and back themselves,’ said Freeman. ‘Sometimes these things come off and sometimes they don’t. They’ve got a lot of combinations together, playing together in Toulouse.
‘These players have been together for a long time, so it obviously makes it that little bit easier. We’ll want to make our first-up tackles and get into the offloading channels to stop it.
‘You want to get in behind defences by beating that first man. As soon as you do there might be a mindset of then going through and being that next option, beating the defender there.
‘We want to be the same. The way the game is going you can’t just beat down the door, it takes moments of miracles and offloads to create a scoring opportunity. They’ve got some threats, but we have too.’
