The night French rugby gripped a city – and moved a nation

There is a clarity and unity to everything that France now do, on and off the field, writes Harry Latham-Coyle

Fireworks light up the night sky above the Stade de France (Getty Images)

The clock had ticked past 1am in Paris and still the queue for the metro stretched up the steps. French fans packed the carriages like cornichons, chanting deep into the night.

It had been an incredible, affirming evening inside the electric Stade de France as they swatted aside England 25-13, the DJ spinning the driving bass beats of 90s Eurodance – it was no occasion for chanson Française. The party atmosphere extended into parts of the normally decorous press box. Of the four “journalists” alongside me, not a single one took out a laptop or notebook during the 80 minutes.

You could almost forgive such celebrations on a night that a first grand slam in 12 years was seized. There is a clarity and unity to everything that France now do, on and off the field. Paris is a wonderfully diverse city true to the country, and that diversity is now being tapped better than ever before.