Special Envoy to Saint-Étienne
This XV of France, still in full preparation, had its ups and downs on Saturday in Saint-Étienne (30-27). This was not the case for Charles Ollivon, author of a full match. Formidable in defense (19 tackles, including 12 in the first half), just in these interventions ball in hand (43 m gained) and precious in his support. The “big Charles” at its best. With the key to his 13th try in the blue jersey, being perfectly in support of Gabin Villière (44th). Certainly one of the great men of the Forézienne exit of the XV of France. “Personally, I felt good,” he said after the game. We have worked hard and it is paying off.”
However, the RC Toulon flanker is not one to fall into blissful angelism. “It’s a victory against a very good team from Scotland. But we want to go further, he continues. We are not going to jump for joy, but we really had to go through it. And to add: “To be ready on September 8 (against the All Blacks at the opening of the World Cup, editor’s note), we had to go through a match like that. We had to find benchmarks, still work physically, sometimes be in the hard … It’s part of our path. But the important thing is to win, it’s reassuring.
The copy returned to Geoffroy-Guichard is far from perfect. He is fully aware of it. “We knew it would be hard, that we would have to hang on. We gave everything. We are going forward. There is never an easy match at the international level”, underlines Charles Ollivon. And to add: “We are still in the development phase, it is quite clear. We have been warned and we are working accordingly to be ready on September 8. We don’t work for anything else. This game was on our way.
Even if Fabien Galthié now refuses to use the term “premium” players that he used for a long time, the Basque third line is obviously one of the executives of this team, of which he was the captain before hand over the armband to Antoine Dupont. One of his great strengths is to flourish and shine in the moving game of the XV of France, where we find him at the four corners of the field. Like this impeccable pass for Gabin Villière at the end of the match (71st). “We also showed that we had worked well on the transition balls. It’s fun to play in the mess, it’s something he likes, “appreciates the Basque. The touch is also one of his strong points, since in addition to his three balls well captured at the start of the match, it was he who disrupted the last Scottish throw, forcing Sam Skinner to commit a forward.
But Charles Ollivon, a cool head on broad shoulders, prefers to focus on the upcoming deadlines. “In the future, we will still find ourselves in these situations like this. There are never easy matches where you run over everyone. There is no such thing. You have to find the benchmarks and the framework when it’s difficult, he says. When the opponent puts a lot of pressure, it’s important to find yourself. It’s been about five months since we last played together. So it’s good to be in trouble right now. It is important to reconnect, to have bearings in the difficulty. He quickly found his marks.
