France won the Six Nations for the first time in 12 years after beating England 25-13 to complete the Grand Slam on Saturday.
The triumph was achieved in the febrile atmosphere of the Stade de France, the venue in northern Paris where the French will look to win sport’s ultimate prize next year: the Rugby World Cup.
Fireworks and ticker-tape exploded as France captain Antoine Dupont — the world player of 2021 — lifted the Six Nations trophy in front of his celebrating teammates in the middle of the field.
Will it be the Webb Ellis Cup next?
“We are lucky to have a fantastic group of players,” France manager Raphael Ibanez said.
“I would recommend they keep their feet on the ground. It’s a major step for our team but there is more to come. We can still improve our game.”
France scored three tries, none more important than the final one scored in the 61st minute by Dupont that pushed his team back into a 12-point lead after England reduced the gap to 18-13 following a fast start to the second half.
It eased the pressure on the French in the final quarter as they clinched their first piece of rugby silverware since the Six Nations in 2010 to the backdrop of the home fans singing La Marseillaise.
It was a sixth title of the Six Nations era (since 2000) for France, and a record-tying fourth Grand Slam in that period.
And it marked the next step in France’s evolution under coach Fabien Galthie, who took over after the 2019 Rugby World Cup and led the team to second-place finishes in the last two Six Nations.
The previous decade was marked by several humiliating finishes in the Northern Hemisphere championship — there was even a wooden spoon in 2013 — but French rugby has come together in the Galthie era, with clubs and the national team finally on the same page and the public reconnected with Les Tricolores.
With the likes of Dupont and No 8 Gregory Alldritt now bona fide superstars, France claimed a big win over the All Blacks in November that inevitably foisted the favourites tag on Galthie’s team heading into the Six Nations. They embraced it, handling the pressure against England to finish a point above Ireland.
England fail to ease Eddie Jones plight
The English ended in third place, an improvement on last year’s fifth but one unlikely to ease the pressure on coach Eddie Jones after a second straight championship in which they lost three games.
It is, though, probably a fair measure of where England is amid a transitional phase under Jones.
“I know we’ve got the team for it,” England captain Courtney Lawes said. “We just need to be more clinical.”
But this night was all about France.
A spectacular, spine-tingling prematch light show had the Stade de France illuminated in red, white and blue, setting the stage for a huge match to judge the progress of the next World Cup host.
They rose to the challenge.
With remarkable ruck speed and a feisty defence — orchestrated somewhat chasteningly by an English coach, Shaun Edwards — that created five turnovers, France produced a strong first-half display to lay the platform for victory.
Fullback Melvyn Jaminet had already kicked a penalty by the time Romain Ntamack sent a miss-pass over to the right wing where Gael Fickou collected the ball and raced over in the corner for a 15th-minute try.
While finding parity at the line-out, England was being dominated at the scrum and its attack was limited, resorting to getting most joy from high kicks fielded by Freddie Steward, a tall fullback playing as a winger.
A couple of penalties by Marcus Smith kept the English in touch but a converted try by flanker Francois Cros off the last attack of the first half opened up a 12-point gap — at 18-6 — that the visitors never looked like closing.
It was another clinic in quick phases, marshalled by Dupont, that ended with Ntamack bursting through a gap to almost reach the line before Cros picked up and stretched out a hand through a mass of bodies to ground.
England made the French work for the title, producing a barnstorming start to the second half that culminated in Steward finishing off a well-worked move in the right corner for what proved to be the team’s only try.
But Dupont ensured there would be no late nerves, running on to Alldritt’s pop-up pass and handing off England hooker Jamie George before accelerating away from Ben Youngs to score beside the posts.
Jaminet’s conversion took him to 10 points for the match and France wouldn’t be stopped, with the French fans in a crowd of 79,000 staying back long after the final whistle to hail their team.
The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Sukuk explained
Sukuk are Sharia-compliant financial certificates issued by governments, corporates and other entities. While as an asset class they resemble conventional bonds, there are some significant differences. As interest is prohibited under Sharia, sukuk must contain an underlying transaction, for example a leaseback agreement, and the income that is paid to investors is generated by the underlying asset. Investors must also be prepared to share in both the profits and losses of an enterprise. Nevertheless, sukuk are similar to conventional bonds in that they provide regular payments, and are considered less risky than equities. Most investors would not buy sukuk directly due to high minimum subscriptions, but invest via funds.
