6 Nations Tournament: for Richard Astre, “it is abnormal to have expatriated Dupont (in rugby sevens), because he is the true leader of a generation”

Antoine Dupont est le véritable leader d'une génération, ça ne peut pas se passer sans lui”, assure Richard Astre, l'ancien demi de mêlée du “Grand Béziers”. MAXPPP – Ethan Cairns

The former Béziers scrum half, Richard Astre (six-time French champion between 1971 and 1978), regrets that the French team no longer surprises its opponents as much, due to a unidentified style of play. 

Richard Astre, do you believe in the Dupont generation ?

For me, it is abnormal to have expatriated him (to rugby sevens to participate in the Paris Games), because he is the true leader of a generation .  It can't happen without him. We can't stop anyone from doing anything, but for good reason, he could also have played matches in the Six Nations Tournament, because he's the best.

How do you analyze the difficulties of the XV of France ? 

We are still experiencing the disappointment of the last World Cup. We feel that a layer of lead is preventing us from restarting everything. It goes through men, but others work too!

I find the South Africans remarkable, because they don't have a Top 14, they have economic and social difficulties in their country, but they manage to have unity through in relation to their way of playing. Their game belongs to them, they ignore "playing well" but they are double world champions. Everything that is simple, they do it well, that's the difficulty.

Why has France never won the World Cup ?

We have a wealth in France, it is the variety of styles of play in the clubs. But I think that in terms of the style of the Blues, with players from different places, we had difficulty really finding a style, which I regret. The important thing in game strategy is to surprise the opponent with a spirit of collective initiative.

It was the cowboys and the Indians, the forwards stood on one side, three-quarters on the other

With Béziers, at the time, we invented things that still exist today. For example, line up with five or organize referrals with four. It was cowboys and Indians, the forwards stood on one side, three-quarters on the other, and the opponents took the whole match to figure out how to position themselves four to four. 

Do you regret never having played in a World Cup, which did not exist in your time ?

We can't feed on nostalgia, but for my part, of course. When you are passionate, competition is the time to come together. In the 1970s, we were in difficulty facing the same adversaries that the South Africans and New Zealanders are today. Ha! There were the Welsh too, who were a source of inspiration.