Guy Noves tells his young side to stay grounded

France coach Guy Noves has urged his young team to keep themselves grounded after winning their opening two Six Nations matches.

After opening their campaign with a narrow 23-21 victory over Italy, France followed up that success with a 10-9 defeat of Ireland, a 70th-minute Maxime Medard try converted by Jules Plisson sealing what, for large periods of the game, seemed like an improbable win.

Next up is an away trip to Wales on Friday, February 26, the unbeaten Welsh having opened with a 16-16 draw with Ireland before edging Scotland 27-23 on Saturday.

“Getting a result like this one, and seeing those young boys so happy, it all feels like a job well done,” Noves said.

“As for writing our history, we will know in a few weeks. Let’s all keep our feet square on the ground, because our next opponent will be an extremely strong one.

“I told the boys this week that we felt they were in there, focused, involved.Those young kids, who were fragile last week, produced a huge performance against Ireland.”

One particular bonus for Noves was the superb performance by skipper Guilhem Guirado. The 29-year-old Toulon hooker, playing his 40th Test, led by example: dynamic around the park, abrasive in the tackle and able to exhort the best from his teammates.

“When you’re next to him, you say to yourself, ‘There you are, I want to go with him’. You want to emulate him,” said No 8 Damien Chouly.

“Victory was, above all, based on the choice of our captain to take the touch when we were 9-3 down, rather than take the penalty,” Noves said.

“We were expecting to hear, ‘Go for the three points’, but he said, ‘No’,” admitted prop Rabah Slimani, whose appearance along with Eddy Ben Arous galvanised the scrum and saw the French pack dominate the Irish for the final quarter.