'Such serenity, such mastery, such talent': How French media reacted to the Grand Slam

Grégory Alldritt, Anthony Jelonch and Antoine Dupont celebrates with fans after the game

“A Blue Blood Grand Slam”, crowed the Midi Olympique website - an intentionally ironic headline given the ‘impure blood’ line in La Marseillaise - after Les Bleus won a first Six Nations since 2010 with a perfect five from five.

Under the headline “Many thanks, little ones, the Grand Slam is yours”, Midol’s Leo Faure succeeded in fixing the emotion of the night in words in his on-the-whistle report: “What a madness it was,” he wrote. “A stadium as full as an oyster, a team composition shouted like never before at the SdF, La Marseillaise a capella, ten million people watching on TV...

“These Tricolores, even though they were more clumsy than usual, exuded such serenity, such mastery, such talent that they managed to crush the World Cup finalists, to rally millions of rugby fans to their cause and, above all, to achieve the first French grand slam in 12 years.” 

L’Equipe’s Sunday edition splashed with a picture of Antoine Dupont and his team-mates lifting the Six Nations’ trophy over the headline “Thank You, Good Chelem!” - a joyful revisit of an old favourite of French rugby headline writers, “Sorry, good game”.

L’Equipe gave the first 11 pages to coverage of the match, with headlines from “The age of mutants” via “Antoine Dupont: Super Boss” to “Always first, everywhere” unlocking the various stories of the previous night.

But Thierry Dusautoir’s analysis stands out. “For the first time, perhaps, in the history of our rugby, this Grand Slam is a victory built over time,” the former France captain, a Grand Slam winner in 2010, wrote. “It is the reward of a path started three years ago.” 

Le Parisien, too, looked back to the future as they examined the transformation of France under head coach Fabien Galthie. “This Grand Slam … was not born on the lawn of the Stade de France on Saturday with success against England, or a few weeks earlier, in Cardiff against the Welsh, in Edinburgh against the Scots, or back in Saint-Denis against the Italians or the Irish. It comes from much further away. It was initiated, at the very beginning, by a single man, Fabien Galthie, who had the time to develop his project and the means to carry it out,” wrote Oliver Francois.

Le Figaro used a quote from an unexpectedly controlled Galthie in the post-match press conference. “I'm not doing backflips yet,” he told reporters with a smile, “but they will come…”. Clear evidence he has his eyes on another, bigger-still, prize.

RMC Sport, meanwhile, took time to focus on other practicalities. Bernard Laporte is keen to tie Galthie - out of contract after next year’s World Cup - to a new contract through to June 2028, according to reporter Jean-Francois Paturaud.

Other members of the coaching staff are expected to follow suit, though there may be changes in certain key positions at the end of current deals.