French flair is back as Les Bleus sniff maiden World Cup
Ntamack sustained a knee injury in the Scotland warm-up test victory this month and will be replaced by Mathieu Jalibert (24), who proved in a 41-17 hammering of Australia that he was more than a default starter alongside mercurial scrumhalf Antoine Dupont (26).
Since Fabien Galthie (54) took over after a mediocre 2019 World Cup, France have won their first Six Nations - and Grand Slam - since 2010 and not finished outside the top two while maturing into a clinical counter-attacking side.
Les Bleus have the ability to punish their opponents for every single mistake and, despite some concentration lapses, have developed an awe-inspiring winning mentality with a French record 14 tests victories in a row.
The famous 'French flair', which culminated in a 1999 semi-final against New Zealand before slowly dying sown at the start of the century, has been resurrected in Galthie's team, who can create brilliance from apparently chaotic situations.
Galthie, however, has a surgical approach to the game and to preparation, leaving no stone unturned - meaning Ntamack's absence looks like a small hiccup as France prepare for a potentially explosive curtain-raiser against New Zealand.
"To me, the Big Three of this World Cup is France, South Africa and Ireland," said former France flanker Olivier Magne.
"When I see what France did against Australia for 80 minutes, the players' determination, this opening game could be tough for the All Blacks," he added referring to Les Bleus' 47-17 victory on Sunday.
The result of the September 8th clash with New Zealand is likely to determine the winners of Pool A, who will face the runners-up in Pool B which features Ireland and holders South Africa.
France will however solely focus on their own Pool, hoping to fix several defensive and discipline problems ahead of the tournament.
NEW DIMENSION
According to Galthie, Les Bleus should be at their maximum.
"We have tried to anticipate everything that could be anticipated but I think that with the staff we have left nothing to chance," he said.
"We worked hard for three years to get ready but now we're moving into a new dimension. It's the final stage and that's the one we're interested in."
France's system is so well-oiled that Galthie included debutant Louis Bielle-Biarrey (20) in his 33-man squad and the Bordeaux-Begles winger is set to light some fireworks as a finisher.
Despite France's self-confidence, Galthie refused to draw conclusions from New Zealand's catastrophic 35-7 defeat against South Africa earlier this month.
"It's hard to draw conclusions from that game, we don't know with which mindset the All Blacks were. What I know is that we will face the greatest team in the world, who have won the World Cup three times," he said.
Although France have never won it, rarely have they seemed so well-prepared to face the ultimate challenge.
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