Springboks forward Trevor Nyakane believes France’s fumbling is an area that needs to be addressed following their victorious Six Nations campaign.
Les Bleus won the title after winning four trophies, with their final victory over England in Round Five, winning silverware over Ireland.
After a good start to the tournament with a 36-14 victory over Ireland, Fabien Galthie’s men continued their good form and got more victories over Wales (54-12) and Italy (33-8).
The 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup winner, currently sidelined by a ruptured Achilles tendon, was a keen observer of the Six Nations and believes France’s attack is an area they must work on.
However, they lost to Scotland 50-40 in Round Four before beating England 48-46 to win the Six Nations title for the second consecutive year.
The Championship is often a tight and tense competition, where solid defence, passing and kicking often dominate the proceedings, but this year’s competition has been surprisingly free-flowing.
However, Nyakane feels that, despite winning the Six Nations, Les Bleus’ scrum issues need fixing and feels the absence of behemoth Uini Atonio, who was forced to retire due to a heart attack shortly before the start of this year’s tournament, has been a major reason for their struggles in the game.
“Bongi (Mbonambi) and I, while we were sitting watching, looked at them (and said) the French really miss Uini Atonio,” he told For The Love Of Rugby podcast.
‘It used to be such a destructive weapon’
They miss that guy now because their scrum isn’t the same anymore, and he used to be a destructive weapon.
“We all knew if you got into a scrum fight with those guys, they could take it to a dark place.
And I saw some weakness there. And I think that if the teams should analyze it properly and try to take it, I think that there is a place for this opportunity where you can exploit it.
Nyakane is currently with United Rugby Championship side Sharks, but knows the French game well after spending two seasons with Parisian Racing 92 between 2022 and 2024.
“Yes, I played there,” he added.
“And I was really happy for them. And the way the French played, especially the first game, against Ireland, I was like ‘No one (can beat them). England will have to come up with something to beat these guys in Paris’.
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And as it went on, they looked like that until, they played the Scots. And then I said, ‘Okay, wait, there’s something not quite right here’.
‘There’s a bit of danger there’
“And if I feel like teams are going to go against them, if you keep the ball and let them defend, there’s some weakness there.
“When it comes to style, I think they miss Uini Atonio a lot.”
Fellow Boks prop and two-time World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff, who retired last year due to a serious neck injury, also had a two-year stint in France with Bordeaux-Begles from 2015 to 2017.
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He agreed with Nyakane and said that the struggling set-piece, especially the scrum, had an unsettling effect on other areas of the game and he felt that France should work on correcting their weaknesses in that area.
“I think a big part of modern rugby is how you control the battle of the area with your set and the scrum is a big part of it,” said Kitshoff.
“So, having a scrum at the back, first of all, like maybe your timing when it comes to your attacking plays, your defensive formation, it takes a little knock because you’re always struggling.
“And when you get it right, you always feel like you’re better up front and you can easily win the zone battle, and you can play in the right areas of the pitch. So it’s something that will have to be watched, especially from the French side.
“I think they’ve certainly got the players and they’ve got the league to back it up and build a very strong scrum, but it’s not going to fix itself, it’s going to take hard work. It’s going to take determination.
“It will take a scrum coach who knows what he is doing and what he wants from his team.
“Hopefully we’ll see them going into next year or coming into the summer series, with a strong, strong and mental pack, if I can put it that way.
“And now, we’re going to see some better performances, but it’s, it’s a big part that needs to be fixed.”
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