Rating every player from France’s inconsistent Six Nations campaign: An ‘all-time’ Les Bleus great and a clear standout
Damian Penaud and Francois were among France's best this Six Nations.
Following the conclusion of the 2024 Six Nations, we rated all the players who featured in the Championship. Next up, France.
It was a campaign of highs and lows for Les Bleus who ultimately finished second overall despite a heavy home loss to Ireland and a draw with Italy. Fabien Galthie’s charges edged Scotland in round two and looked sharper in their victory over Wales before pipping England with the final kick of the tournament. We run through their side, giving ratings out of 10.
Outside backs
Thomas Ramos: Hard to consider him only as an outside back, given he played half the tournament at ten. However, his personal performance went from horrendous in defence to remarkable at times in attack. His speculative fly hack for the killer try in Lyon summed up Ramos- opportunistic but flawed. 6
Damian Penaud: An absolute Rolls-Royce of a wing, it says a lot about Penaud that he hardly troubled the scoreboard by his high standards yet dominated virtually every carrying and try creation stat in the tournament. An all-time great of French rugby, he’s close to becoming an all-time great of the game. 8
Louis Bielle-Biarrey: Had his moments, especially in Cardiff when his elusive running down the left flank caused Wales a lot of issues. He should have started earlier in the tournament and is developing into a fine player. 6
Matthis Lebel: Recalled by France on his club form, he struggled to fire a shot and the disaster in Lille saw him dumped from the match day 23. 4
Leo Barre: Huge potential, and his performance against England demonstrated his class and poise on the ball. He’s less frenetic and a little calmer than some of the options we’ve seen in the blue 15 shirt, and his first forays into test rugby showed extreme promise. 7
Our Six Nations player rating key.
Centres
Gael Fickou: France’s season was almost personified by Fickou himself, who snared three tries but let in as many more as he ran brilliantly but defended like a pale imitation of the giant we’ve seen in recent times. A strange season for someone approaching a cap century, but given he didn’t have a regular midfield partner, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. 6
Jonathan Danty Poor. Once again, his upright tackle technique made him see red. One wonders if it’s a card too many for this brilliant centre. He needs to sort his stuff out. 3
Nicolas Depoortere: With ball in hand, Depoortere showed threat and no lack of pace, but, like Fickou, far too many defensive howlers at crucial moments has cost him a couple of marks. Needs to sort out his spacing and communication on the other side of the ball. 5
Yoram Moefana: He is a shadow of the player we see week in and week out for Bordeaux when it comes to the blue jersey. He’s not quite fast enough for a wing, not physical enough for a centre; he’s in danger of losing the credit he built up as a free runner with the U20s and yet again failed to impose himself at test level. 4
Halfbacks
France scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec scoring against England.
Matthieu Jalibert: Failed to grab his chance despite some brilliant moments and remained as infuriatingly inconsistent as ever. He was flying against Italy until he pulled his thigh muscle, and his exit saw France fall apart in that match. A season of what could have been punctuated with some fabulous interventions. 5
Maxime Lucu: The reaction to Lucu’s try against Wales told everything about this popular man from Bordeaux. He was a long way off the pace when he started in the first three matches, but against Wales and England, he demonstrated his resilience in returning to some sort of form. 5
Nolann le Garrec: His introduction to the starting XV transformed France’s second part of the campaign. Swift, talented with ball in hand and off boot, he has finally emerged as the natural back-up when the great Antoine Dupont returns. Le Garrec’s performance against Wales was absolutely outstanding. 8
Back row
France flanker Francois Cros after Six Nations game.
Gregory Alldritt: A nasty gash courtesy of a blade stud versus Scotland saw Alldritt sit out a round, but the La Rochelle star wasn’t ever in the best of tuning. He was once again one of Les Bleus’ key carriers, and at times he was his usual bullish self, but we’ve come to expect a little more from the world-class eight. 6
Charles Ollivon: Like Alldritt, people expect match-winning performances from Ollivon and although he was as consistent as ever in his setpiece and carry, he never quite it the heights we expect from him. He entered the competition with a concerning thigh strain but his importance to France is so great that that they managed him gently through the tournament, and it showed. 7
Francois Cros: France’s standout performer by some distance and a season where Cros emerged as a world-class test back row; aside from being France’s top tackler, 124 ruck arrivals in attack saw him finish fifth but in terms of dominant clear outs, once again he topped the stats with a mighty 36, in addition to being France’s most consistent lineout performer, second in most catches, joint first in steals, but only losing one on his own ball all season. 9
Alexandre Roumat: Added a little bit of impact, whether in the second or back row, without ever really pushing momentum forward. Promising but unproven. 5
Esteban Abadie: Played one test and discarded. Not quite the lineout operator France like in the back row, and he didn’t impact the carry or breakdown in the manner he does for Toulon. 4
Paul Boudehent: A useful bench player, Boudehent has still to translate his La Rochelle form into the test arena. However, he offers a positive blend of skills but needs to impact matches more than he’s managed to do this season so far. 5
Locks
France second-row Emmanuel Meafou against England.
Paul Gabrillagues: There is bo doubt about his defensive work, but he offered little in terms of carry, collision or lineout expertise. A disappointing experiment. 4
Posolo Tuilagi: There’s no doubt that he’ll be massive for France in the future, but his lack of lineout work means an extra workload onto the back row. Is lock his best test position? A work in progress. 5
Paul Willemse: The big fella has really struggled with injury and indiscipline and those were the themes of 2024 once again. A frustrating season where he made little impact. 2
Emmanuel Meafou: We saw enough to know there’s a lot to work with here. His bouncing of Maro Itoje in Lyon was a social media highlight and he added massive heft to an underperforming French pack without ever quite delivering the breakthrough performance. 6
Thibaud Flament: When Flament returned, so France started to motor. Two massive performances in Cardiff and Lyon, the former Loughborough University 4th team fly half was far and away the best lock we saw in the blue shirt. 8
Cameron Woki: His lineout is supreme, but his effectiveness around the pitch was so poor he was jettisoned from the squad, almost unthinkable a year ago. Well below par. 4
Romain Taofifenua Made impact when needed, particularly in Cardiff when his smart charge down turned the match in France’s favour as Wales were on the front foot. A good season. 6
Six Nations: 21 Unforgettable moments that decided the 2024 Championship
Props
Reda Wardi: Played only 18 minutes before leaving pitch against Ireland. 5
Cyril Baille: World-class as always. He rumbled, carried and scrummaged with his usual gusto and was responsible, with Atonio, for the complete destruction of the Welsh scrummage in Cardiff. 7
Dorian Aldegheri: Got into a pickle on a number of occasions, particularly against both Irish looseheads in Marseilles. Lost his place as a result of poor tight work. 3
Sebastien Taofifenua: Never let France down off the bench without ever providing the threat with ball in hand of the man he replaced, Baille. 5
George-Henri Colombe: Huge impact off the bench in a try-scoring moment in Cardiff, Colombe demonstrated his potential in a memorable debut season. He’ll be around a long time. 7
Hookers
Peato Mauvaka: He offers so much with the ball in hand, but if you’re not hitting your darts, not bossing rucks and not adding heft to scrum time, then you’re simply not performing the core roles of a hooker. 5
Julien Marchand: His return, alongside that of Flament, was absolutely key in sorting out much of the structural and breakdown woes France were suffering from in the early part of the tournament. He grew back into his role on his return from injury and demonstrated once again he’s an absolutely world-class exponent of his art. 7
READ MORE: Six Nations Team of the Tournament: Ireland and Italy lead the way as one country misses out