France U20: “I'm a little sad for the people who follow us”, coach Sébastien Calvet talks about the historic defeat against Italy

Le sélectionneur Sébastien Calvet déçu après la rencontre. – J.P.

Battus 23-20 sur leur pelouse du stade Raoul-Barrière, les Bleuets ont signé un revers historique en perdant pour la première fois dans le Tournoi U20 face à l'Italie. Le sélectionneur Sébastien Calvet est revenu sur les raisons de cet échec.

What should we remember from this narrow defeat against Italy ?

We have three opportunities to score and we don't score. Despite the difficulties in melee, it was a match that we could have won.

We also remember that it was a choppy match…but also three negative turnovers against us five minutes from the end, that's why I'm frustrated . The Italians didn't steal their victory but the three turnovers bother me more.

How do you explain these three balloons lost on the wire ?

It's an experience that will make this group grow. The Italians have a very good team, very effective in the fight, and they were more combative than us at the end of the game. We wanted to send some game but we sometimes failed in conservation. They have ultra-interesting morphotypes in terms of contact play.

Also read: France U20: cold shower for the Bleuets who lose in Béziers, against Italy

Yet there seemed to be room outside…

The few satisfactions are in the construction of the offensive game, we gave ourselves the means to advance, to play the spaces, but without necessarily making everything happen. We had the keys, we didn't know how to get victory. The pair of centers were served a lot, the hinge distributed the game well, in the strategy we did not make a mistake.

Was the absence of many top players from this 2004/2005 generation detrimental ?

I don't want to go too far into that subject. With the players we had we should have won this match. If we had more seasoned, more powerful players, it wouldn't have happened like that. We have a captain born in 2005, I think he will be eager to meet the Italians next year and he will be twice as effective in contact. We should have won this match.

Where we are disappointed is that we are followed by more and more people, TV channels, we fill stadiums and today I am a little sad for the people who follow us. The first half was insipid, and we must get the victory behind. You have to feed on that to prepare for what comes next.

Also read: France U20: "I still have the chills", Montpellier's Maël Perrin talks about his adventure with the Bleuets, before challenging Italy

Is it frustrating to fall at home against Italy ?

Of course, we are affected, touched, we now have to grow up with that. We need to be able to offer the public better services.

What will this setback change for the rest of the Tournament ?

It doesn't change anything about the project. Even when we had the luxury of having all our players available in past seasons, we always rotated to improve our players' skills. Today we have lots of players born in 2005, they are first year. We must not throw everything away with this defeat.

For Wales we will see our strategy because it is a match with doubles, on the other hand against England, we will try to present a team which will be very competitive to finish well in France.