Is the french Rugby team better than ours?

Question

i am doing french rugby for my topic in AS french and i need an unbiased view (or rather a view that isnt my own) please help!

Answer 1

I'm going to work on the assumption that you're English as you refer to the international rugby team that represents your country as "ours" which is a particularly English way of looking at things.

If you're looking for an overall answer to the question then you should start by looking at the number of fixtures that the two teams have had and see what the overall standing is.

France didn't join the Five Nations (Home Unions before France's arrival and now Six Nations with Italy included) until 1947 so it's not fair to say that England have won 25 tournaments and France only 15 therefore England are better. England have won 25/105 tournaments which is a success rate slightly less than 1 victory for every 4 tournaments. France have won 15 tournaments in 75 tournaments which is exactly 1 victory in every four tournaments which means that on these statistics, in terms of Six Nations Championship results, France are better than England.

Now look at World Cup history.

England have won it once and lost one final.
France have never won it and has been in two finals.

So England have a better World Cup history than France.

Now look at the current England and France rugby teams and their Six Nations records since the World Cup. In the past three years France have won it twice with one of those wins a Grand Slam in 2004. England haven't won the Six Nations since they won the World Cup.

Last Autumn both France and England were trounced by the All Blacks but France beat Argentina where as England were beaten by Argentina. France's last game against South Africa was a victory, England's was a defeat.

France is currently ranked second in the IRB International Rugby Rankings, behind NZ whereas the English team is in seventh position in the table behind NZ, France, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and Argentina. This is a fairly definitive indication that the French Rugby team is well ahead of the English rugby team at the moment.

In terms of the standard of rugby played in the French Top 14 League in and that played in the Guinness Premiership it's quite difficult to compare the two given the differing structures but the Heineken Cup clearly illustrates that teams such as Toulouse, Biarritz and Stade Français are capable of beating the best of English clubs and vice versa for the likes of Leicester, Sale and Bath.

Without going into a blow by blow description of the attributes of each position you could say that there is slightly more stability in the French selection today than there is in the English selection. That is to say we know what Bernard Laporte would like to do. He'd like to play something resembling the following team at this year's world cup :

15. Castaignede
14. Rougerie
13. Fritz
12. Jauzion
11. Dominici
10. Michalak
9. Ellisalde and Yachvilli
8. Vermeulen and Chabal
7. Martin and Dusautoir
6. Betsen and Bonnaire
5. Pape and Thion
4. Pelous
3. Marconnet and De Villiers
2. Ibanez and Szarzewski
1. Milloud

Some of these names may change, particularly in the front row, before the World Cup, but this will be roughly the team that plays and Jo Maso and Bernard Laporte have made this pretty clear by ensuring that none of these players, other than Chabal, will be going on tour to New Zealand next June before the World Cup.

With the exception of Josh Lewsey and now Phil Vickery there are so many positions in the England rugby team where there is either a distinct lack of quality or indecision as to what player best suits the team's style of play. The team above is the French rugby team, it's very difficult to state, today, even now that the group for the Six Nations has been picked, who is in the England rugby team.

From my unbiaised stand point I'd have to say that France are far and away the better rugby team between England and France at the moment and I think we'll see just that during the Six Nations and World Cup. They're an extremely talented group and are capable of beating the All Blacks at home. I don't believe England are and there's one resounding reason for that which doesn't come from hours spent in the gym, you can't get a coach to teach you how to do it and it doesn't matter how much money your governing body have, you just either have it or you don't. The french have it, England don't. This is what it is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEOw4x7Hb5w

Answer 2

If "ours" is the England team, then yes.
France is better than England at the moment.

Answer 3

i dont know who are u talkin bout when u say ours?? ya diarmid person is prob right is it da english team???

Answer 4

Tell us who "ours" is.