Le Rugby looks back at France's second Grand Slam back 1977, remarkable not only because Les Bleus conceded not a single try, but also because they fielded the same 15 players in every game.
After decades of gradual improvement and several near misses, France finally won their first Grand Slam in 1968. But nine years later they had failed to pick up another outright championship, Wales's golden era side picking up four titles, including two clean sweeps, around the turn of the seventies.
1976 saw the French dominate Wales in Cardiff, but the hosts, outscored by two tries to one, scraped home 19-13 in what turned out to be the Grand Slam decider. A year on, France's campaign was to open against the Welsh in Paris - the first leg of a remarkable and historic Grand Slam which created legends but which divided supporters and pundits in equal measure thanks to its foundations in nine-man rugby and dependence on sheer aggression rather than the flair that had typified France's first clean sweep.
The Games
France 16 Wales 9 (Parc des Princes, February 5) The championship had already kicked off when France entered the fray, Wales and England laying down markers with big wins over Ireland and Scotland on the first weekend. But Wales's defence of the Grand Slam was to fall at the second hurdle as the French overturned a 6-3 deficit with a powerful second-half performance from the pack that saw Jean-Claude Skrela score from the tail of a huge scrum before a darting run from full back Aguirre set up winger Dominique Harize for the second try. Romeu made sure of the victory - and revenge for Wales' 1976 win - with a late penalty.
England 3 France 4 (Twickenham, February 19) The second leg of the Grand Slam was shrouded in controversy even before the teams ran out atTwickenham. Before the match the French Federation, led by outspoken president Albert Ferrasse, objected to the appointment of scottish referee Norman Sanson. Sanson had already sent off Geoff Wheel and Willie Duggan in the tournament, and the French feared his hardline attitude to their physical game would derail their championship hopes. They got their wish as Sanson was replaced by Welsh whistler Jeff Kelleher, but an anti-French campaign in the British press meant les Bleus were subjected to a hostile welcome at Twickenham. The change of referee hardly helped either - France conceded 13 penalties to England's 2, but luckily for the visitors, full back Alistair Hignall missed all but one of his six kicks at goal. With no score in the first half, Hignall fumbled a French clearance kick early in the second half, Jacques Fouroux breaking from the ruck to set up a move that put Francois Sangalli over in the corner. The last quarter was desperate stuff as England piled forward, but for once France remained disciplined and held their line intact to claim a nervous victory.
Watch Sangalli's crucial try
France 23 Scotland 3 (Parc des Princes, March 5) Despite overcoming the two best teams in the competition, the manner of France's victories and their pack-centric gameplan wasn't endearing Fouroux's team to their own press, let alone the foreign media. France went out to play a more expansive game against the admittedly weak Scots, and scored four tries through Alain Paco, Harize, Robert Paparemborde and Roland Bertranne. But you can't change a winning philosophy overnight, and the game may best be remembered for prop Gerard Cholley knocking out four Scots, in particular his punch on Don McDonald which was even condemned by Ferrasse himself.
Ireland 6 France 15 (Lansdowne Road, March 19) The invention of that modern-day snitch the citing commissioner was at least 20 years off, so Cholley kept his place in the XV sent to Dublin to bring back the Grand Slam. Also doubtful was hooker Paco, who shrugged off a dose of appendicitis to take the field at Lansdowne Road. France trailed 6-3 at the interval, but Romeu levelled the scores early in the second half and from the restart, Aguirre set off on a run that cut through the Irish defence before passing to Paco deep in the Irish half. The hooker saw Bastiat to his right and sent the No.8 galloping over for the try that sealed the Slam.
Watch Bastiat's winning score
The Legacy
Even after the French XV had sealed the Grand Slam, their own press was willing to criticise the nature of their victories, which mostly relied on forward dominance, Fouroux's leadership and Romeu's tactical kicking skills. Le Monde's Jean Lacoutoure was particularly scathing, questioning the value of "winning with eight-and-a-half players", slamming the team's methods as "excessive, almost inhuman" and un-French and suggesting that the Champagne Rugby of the 1960s should have been blended with New Zealand muscle or Welsh flair, rather than "injected with hormones from Pretoria".
Even Ferrasse's attempts to replace Sanson before the England game were criticised by the French press, not least because they added credence to the British media's position that the French were cheats afraid of being found out.
Some thirty years on, however, the achievements of 1977 have entered French rugby legend, and a range of commemorative clothing issued by Adidas in 2007 sold like hot croissants. The truth was that after their long-awaited first Grand Slam in 1968, French rugby went into decline, and it took a whole new approach to regain its dominance. That it did so with just 15 players and without conceding a try was a remarkable bonus, and a feat that will never be equalled.
With Fouroux as coach and Rives as captain from 1980 onwards building on the 1977 legacy, French Rugby, with its blend of abrasive forwards and slick backs, has rarely looked back, and its average of a Grand Slam every four seasons since then has sent a benchmark for consistency that even Wales and England have never approached.
After decades of gradual improvement and several near misses, France finally won their first Grand Slam in 1968. But nine years later they had failed to pick up another outright championship, Wales's golden era side picking up four titles, including two clean sweeps, around the turn of the seventies.