Six Nations Championship. France-Scotland: Between Penaud and Van der Merwe, the X Factor duel

The author of each one of the amazing achievement since the beginning of this tournament, in London for the Scotsman and in Dublin for the French, and they are in scintillating form.

Just as it will be closely linked to the performance of players like Antoine Dupont or Finn Russell, the fate of this match can largely depend on the outcome of the duel in which they will participate.

Damien Benaud

1.92 m / 95 kg With 22 tries in 39 selections, the future UBB player is quite simply the top XV scorer for France in action. Now in the top ten in Blues history, just one length behind Aurélien Rougerie, he signed an Ireland-worthy individual feat that turned the game against Australia last November. His stat sheets are slightly lower than that of Dohan van der Merwe at the start of the tournament. But they still put him among the strongest forwards on the board with 15 defenders lost (third after Scottish and Italian winger Ange Capuzzo), three assists and 191m of coverage (best total for a French player, sixth overall). nations level).

Duhan van der Merwe

1.93 m / 106 kg Author of 16 tries in 25 selections, the South African Scottish winger runs at an impressive average of 1.56 tries per match. Recently, he struck again by scoring a brace in the Championship opener at Twickenham. A double stroke of brilliance, including a try from almost 80 metres, that sealed Scotland’s success in England. This feat doesn’t come out of the blue: it reflects a real impact on his team’s performance. He makes three tries in a Six Nations game (a record in this region), and the winger is the player who has knocked out the most defenders (20). It is also the most numerous crossing (5). With 254m on the clock, he is the second player to have covered the most ground after Ireland’s Keenan.

Opinion Laurent Labette

Laurent Labit takes charge of the attack inside France’s XV: “Duhan Van der Merwe holds the ball well, he’s a very strong player: like Stuart Hogg or Finn Russell, he’s one of the threats we take a lot more hard. But I think Damien is more complete: he’s one of the best The players in the world today. Again, for us it will be one of those X factors that can change a match into action.”