France must cope without the player who makes the world's best even better

When Romain Ntamack limped off the pitch in the World Cup warm-up match against Scotland in Saint-Etienne in early August, French rugby fans held their breaths.

The collective nervousness was as palpable as the mounting excitement for the tournament itself. How serious was his knee injury? The look on his face suggested he feared his World Cup was over before it began.

His fears - and those of the fans - were justified, despite the soothing attempts at raising hope out of the France camp immediately after the match and the following morning.

A scan revealed Ntamack had ruptured ligaments in his left knee.

His brave message on social media, stating, “I’ll be back”, couldn’t hide the pain. There will be no World Cup for Ntamack, and the odds are lengthening on his fitness for the 2024 Six Nations, despite the remarkable, and potentially risky, return of club and country team-mate Anthony Jelonch after a similar injury at the end of February.

It says a lot that the confirmation of Ntamack’s injury-enforced absence was greeted with such dismay among French rugby fans, and that it hit Les Bleus’ chances in the opinion of pundits and, perhaps more accurately, with bookmakers.

So, why has his loss been so keenly felt in France? Les Bleus aren’t exactly lacking in access to quality fly-halves.

Matthieu Jalibert is six months older than Ntamack and made his senior international debut a full year earlier - in the Johnny Sexton drop goal match. Two serious knee injuries, the first half an hour into his first France start, kept him out for more than a year.

Antoine Hastoy, 26, played for France at age-grade level and is a Champions Cup winner with La Rochelle.

Both are in France’s World Cup squad. Both would be in the conversation at some point for most World Cup squads. And both are seen as downgrades, their selections in Ntamack’s absence regarded as akin to a Moneyball-style effort to recreate him in the aggregate.

Because replacing Ntamack isn’t that easy. It’s nothing to do with personal skills - both Jalibert and Hastoy are exceptional players capable of incisive rugby - and everything to do with the fact that Ntamack is, very particularly, Antoine Dupont’s fly-half.

Imagine being the one who makes the world’s best player even better, in real rugby time. That’s what France have lost for this World Cup because of Ntamack’s injury. That’s what Fabien Galthie, Jalibert and Hastoy - and Dupont, for that matter - have to deal with.

Any effort to recreate exactly what France have lost will fail. You cannot in a matter of weeks recreate the close understanding of two brilliant players who have worked together for years.

That’s not what France will seek to achieve. They won't try to recreate Dupont-Ntamack exactly out of parts - no matter how good - that don’t fit in quite the same way.

They’ll adapt, so that Dupont-Jalibert or Dupont-Hastoy works effectively and efficiently. It won’t be exactly the same, but make no mistake, it will work. You’ll have to look very closely to see the join.

And if Dupont isn’t there? His understudy, Maxime Lucu, the player charged with seeing out France match after France match, is Jalibert’s team-mate at Bordeaux. There’s an instant relationship right there.

Meanwhile, Lyon’s Baptiste Couilloud, France’s third scrum-half at the World Cup, plays a game that’s a pretty decent hybrid of Galthie’s first- and second-choice nines.

Unlike a few World Cup coaches, Galthie has not risked going into the tournament with just one specialist fly-half. He was never going to. Ntamack was always going to have an understudy.

Now he is unavailable, Jalibert and Hastoy will share the role across the tournament. It’s likely - notwithstanding the importance Galthie places on training ground impressions - that the Bordeaux player will start the key games, including the opener against New Zealand.

But he has additional cover options within the squad. Thomas Ramos, currently France’s first-choice fullback, has played 10 in big games for Toulouse, including the 2018/19 and 2020/21 Top 14 finals.

Dupont has done the job when needed for Toulouse, and - early in his career - for Castres. Switching him out of a position would be way down the list of options for Galthie, but it’s a possibility if required. And it’s one the coach will have considered. Maxime Lucu, too, has filled in at 10 on occasion.

Galthie has a thing for a fluid backline. His World Cup fly-halves can play fullback; the injured Ntamack is a decent enough centre who has started internationals in midfield.

Ramos can play 10. Getting on for half of 20-year-old winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s outings for Bordeaux have been at fullback. He’s played there in age-grade internationals, and came on to fill the gap in Saint-Etienne.

Damian Penaud, by insanity and disposition, is a mad wing of the old school, who trained as a centre. Gael Fickou has slotted in at every position from 11 to 14 for France. Arthur Vincent is a centre with winger’s pace, as is Yoram Moefana.

Only three players could be considered out-and-out specialists. Centre Jonathan Danty; fullback Melvyn Jaminet; winger Gabin Villiere. And they all bring their own skills to the party.

Danty is a battering ram in attack and defence. Jaminet’s boot is as long and accurate as any in world rugby. And Villiere is, basically, an undersized flanker in winger’s weeds.

So what does all this mean? Simply that France will miss Ntamack. But not as much as their upcoming opponents would want, fear or hope to believe. And, maybe, Jalibert or Hastoy, or both, will take their chance and make Ntamack have to work even harder to get his international shirt back.