It has been 12 years since my Six Nations career began against England at Parc des Princes, writes Thomas Castaignède. And, despite missing out on this weekend’s match, I’m hoping my name will be in the squad of 22 at least one more time against the rosbifs (roast beefs).
There are two things I remember about my debut. One was during the warm-up. There was a cute English girl who had been watching us train and she then came to the dressing room, looked at me, and said: ”That little one can’t be playing with the others.”
That annoyed me a bit, but there was another emotion when I saw the faces of that England side in the dressing room: Brian Moore, Micky Skinner, Paul Ackford. I wasn’t even using a razor and I thought they would eat me alive. It didn’t work out like that: by some mistake I managed to put over the drop-goal that launched my career.
I also remember Jonny Wilkinson’s first game against France in 1999, when he played inside centre. He didn’t look like a player with a lot of strength and our tactic was to target him. I was playing flyhalf, so I kept bunging the ball to Emile Ntamack, who was a big, solid character. Each time I did that, though, Jonny put in a massive hit on Emile, and he eventually asked me to give the ball to someone else.
England vs France is always a game I savour; I am running out of chances to taste it, depending on what happens between now and the World Cup and how my future unfolds. England is one of the great rugby nations; it’s my home now.
I’ve played in England longer than anywhere else in my career, and I always want to do something special in front of people who know me well.
Going back to the England sides I’ve faced, with players such as Neil Back, Martin Johnson, Will Carling, Jerry Guscott, Will Greenwood and the Underwood brothers. These were guys who exemplified the qualities we associated with English rugby: rigour, consistency, discipline, professionalism.
Les Anglais still have those qualities, of course, but currently the national side is in search of an identity. It seems a long time since 2003, when they defeated us at Twickenham en route to the World Cup. I’ve never known an England side lacking confidence as this team seems to do. Not that that means I don’t rate them — we French will be wary of any England team, because we know the heights they can reach.
I think part of the problem they have right now stems from where they have been. The expectations around them are huge, but the players who won the world title are no longer there, and other nations have progressed since 2003. Which brings me round to this year.
There is a real desire in the team to do something big on Sunday and we have reason to believe in ourselves. At the start of the tournament, we were in at least as bad a state as England were.
The All Blacks left a lot of scars, but we began with a brilliant win against Italy, who then went on to trouble England. We won against Ireland, who turned England over like a pancake, then we managed to turn round a potentially difficult situation against Wales.
There are still some names missing from the side, but some guys have confirmed their talent, others have shown huge potential and we are on a winning roll.
I don’t think you can separate a possible Grand Slam from the World Cup and say we are looking for one without looking forward to the other. A Grand Slam would be important, because it would make the opposition think and it would mean we would start the World Cup as number one in the list of outsiders, assuming the All Blacks are the odds-on favourites.
We have had a hard time. There were a lot of people laughing at us during autumn, but we have regained our credibility. We certainly have weapons in our armoury that can cause England problems, and I believe we are capable of travelling to Twickenham and winning.
In France we say ”appetite comes with eating”; we have dined well in this Six Nations, but we still have empty stomachs. — Â