France ‘not talking about Grand Slam’ despite Ireland victory

France captain Antoine Dupont said the squad are not talking about their chances of a Six Nations Grand Slam yet despite Saturday’s impressive victory over Ireland.

Dupont’s side top the Championship table after backing up last weekend’s win over the Azzurri ahead of a trip to Scotland on February 26.

“We’re not going to talk about a Grand Slam for now,” Dupont told reporters.

“We’re going to concentrate on the next match, the challenge we’re expecting,” he added.

Les Bleus have finished runners up in the tournament on the past two occasions, with losses to Scotland proving costly in both editions.

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After this month’s trip to Murrayfield they head to Wales on March 11 before hosting England on the final day of the competition eight days later.

“I think we have all learnt from the last two editions where we maybe lost the tournament after defeats to Scotland,” world player of the year Dupont said.

“We know their team well. We will prepare this match, hoping we will be able to play for something nice in a months’ time,” he added.

Dupont’s club and Test team-mate Thibaud Flament warned against thinking too far ahead despite his side having lost just once at home since head coach Fabien Galthie took over after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

One of those victories included November’s success over New Zealand, a little over two years from the opening game of the 2023 World Cup, held in France.

“It’s correct that we have good energy. The squad feeds of that energy,” he said.

“We feel from the inside that something is happening but we can’t go overboard,” he added.