L'Equipe review: Sunday 10th February

Something I’ve learnt about the press in France is that when things go well, there is nothing but positivity throughout the land but when things go wrong, there is no bigger critic than the press. In depth investigation into what went wrong and how it can be improved is common and usually the answer seems to be a large-scale personnel change.

At this time of year, rugby dominates French press. “Enthusiastic in November, desperate today” was one headline today after the national side lost their second successive match in the 2013 6 Nations. Quotes and statistics fill the pages in an attempt to explain what the problem area may be. Then of course, there’s the part where the worst-case scenario has to be mentioned. This week it comes in the form of the daily poll, “Will France win a match in this year’s 6 Nations?”

Given the nature of the match (France lost 16-6 to Wales in an uninspiring 80 minutes of rugby) I feel the reaction somewhat of an over-reaction. Granted France came into the tournament as favourites and have lost their first two matches, but this year’s tournament has already thrown up some surprises other than the French performances, which if anything, means that there is still all to play for. So, the player ratings for the match may seem a little harsh. True, no French player really did anything of note, but the same could be said of the welsh team. The sides were only separated by a moment of genius from two welsh players and so the average rating of 3/10 for the French seems a little excessive. Maybe it’s just the fact that in Britain we always seem to take the positives in defeat but I usually expect an average rating of 5/10 if things haven’t gone according to plan. I can never recall a rating of 2.5/10 in the English press, unless perhaps if someone were to score an own-goal and then get sent off in the same match. 2.5/10 is how L’Equipe scored Freddy Michalak’s performance. This is the same Freddy Michalak who was heralded as the prodigal son in November, after inspiring France to three impressive wins against tough opposition, I think one front page in November actually read, “Hail King Fred!”As for praise for the victorious welsh team, a small section of player ratings and a four-question interviez with the try-scorer.  In general, the reaction seems to be a case of ‘we lost’ and not ‘they won’ something which, I think might be slightly unfair on Wales, who were on an eight match losing streak and had been facing some stern criticism at home themselves.  There doesn’t seem to be too much menace in the papers today, just a sense of national shame and embarrassment and the match only gets a double page spread before a brief review (half a page) of the Scotland-Italy match, and a brief preview (half a page) of the Ireland-England match.

Something refreshing about the sporting press in France, is that they cover a much wider variety of sports than the british press, featuring the likes of  snowsports, athletics, basketball, handball and even Judo.  The French press also review sport from elsewhere in the world, but it usually centresaround a French sportsperson’s exploits. Take English football for example. You’d never hear about French league football in the british press, actually, we may start to hear more about it now that Goldenballs has crossed the channel. But the French press has attached itself to Newcastle since they signed a handful of French players, and now, there’s usually a review of a Newcastle match every week.

"Not another Welshman!!"

In general, L’Equipe offers a comprehensive sporting review of the weekend in Europe, albeit focused on French involvements but still, comprehensive.