There is an advertisement from the 1990s, fondly remembered in both England and France.
The background is a cross of Saint George: “1966 was a great year for English football,” the text begins.
“Eric was born,” he concludes, as Manchester United’s maverick Cantona watches moodily from close-up.
As France’s Grand Slam winners danced amid ticker tape, pyrotechnics and raucous Eurodisco, it’s worth an update: 1998 was a big year for French sport, Cameron was born.
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- Vive Les Bleus – Rugby Union Weekly from the Stade de France
Second row Cameron Woki was right in the heart of the post-match mosh-pit after Saturday’s win over England to seal the Grand Slam. Just as he has been at the heart of everything else for France during this Six Nations.
The 23-year-old is the archetypal modern striker, all long limbs, skillful hands and boundless energy.
It was born in Saint Denis, in the shadow of the national stadium, four months after another France team cavorted around the pitch, soaking up the champagne and the adulation.
Back in 1998, it was Zidane, Desailly, Barthez and the rest. A soccer team that coined a term, black-blanc-beur, to sum up its cosmopolitan mix.
That year, they lit up the Arc de Triomphe in honor of their World Cup victory. A million people filled the Champs-Élysées to celebrate.
It wasn’t exactly that at the final whistle this time. Not yet. But, as car horns blared deep into the night and songs spread across the esplanade and out into the streets, the spirit felt the same.
In 18 months, France will host the 2023 Rugby World Cup. And this Paris spring feels like the moment an audience fell head over heels in love with its national team.
It had been growing all day before the 21:00 local start time.
On newsstands in the morning, L’Equipe’s headline was ‘Operation Grand Slam’, with its lead writer imploring the class of 2022 to end a clean sweep of the Six Nations that had dragged on like an eternity. since the last one in 2010.
The lunchtime television shows featured a behind-the-scenes documentary about the team’s journey to the brink of glory.
Three hours before kickoff, lines of fans snaked out from the entrance gates.
The wait was worth it. France shone under the lights. They were faster mentally and muscularly than England. They bristled with menace and cunning every time the space was opened. They could, maybe should, have scored more than their three tries. The final pass did not always go to hand, sometimes the wrong option was taken.
But, they were so many streets ahead of their opposition, they didn’t have to be perfect. England, faced with a defense forged by England’s Shaun Edwards, the former Wales defense coach, was left without ideas, but never discouraged.
There was a moment towards the end of the first half when Henry Slade made a blindside foray, found himself outnumbered and, for lack of a better plan, made contact.
The tidal wave of blueshirted defenders swallowed him up and spat him out.
The game was almost over just after the hour. Dupont, a bundle of fast-twitch fibers and an even faster brain, left English tacklers clawing at the tails of his jacket as he danced under the posts.
The win moves France into second place in the world rankings, overtaking New Zealand, who they beat on another electrifying night. back in November.
That win over the All Blacks is part of a fine winning run of eight Tests. With the only team above them in the standings, world champions South Africa, having lost four of their last seven games, France can lay claim to being the true kingpin of the international game.
They certainly have their best player. Captain Dupont was named World Player of the Year in December and his standards remain stratospheric.
Born into a peasant family, in a rugby hotbed in the south of the country, he has followed a well-trodden traditional path to the national team.
It is the obvious face of this French team. But, like the 1998 World Cup winners, there is more than one face in the foreground, more than one story in the background.
Woki, prop Demba Bamba and center Jonathan Danty have taken a shorter but less traveled path from the Paris suburbs to the Stade de France.
Wing Gabin Villiere, from Normandy in northwestern France, played sevens in his past. Full back Melvyn Jaminet played in the second division.
Damian Penaud and Romain Ntamack follow in the footsteps of their parents, both French internationals.
Paul Willemse and Uini Atonio have left the lands of their ancestors, coming to France and the team from South Africa and South Auckland respectively.
They were all there when Tannoy’s volume dove into the on-field celebrations. When the team jumped over billboards and invoked memories from another part of the Stade de France’s footballing past.
Together they faced their fans and, just like Iceland at Euro 2016, they celebrated by clapping their hands above their heads. Slow to fast. And then faster and faster. But always together, as one.
That unity, that diversity is propelling this France team towards 2023 and an opportunity for an even bigger story. Right now, they don’t lack anything.
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