In England and France, there is a 1990s billboard advert.
1966 was a great year for English football and the text begins.
Manchester United Cantona stares out from the foreground as it concludes that Eric was born.
1998 was a great year for French sport as the winners of the Grand Slam danced in the tickertape.
The second row was in the middle of the mosh-pit after the win over England. He has been at the center of everything for France during the Six Nations.
The modern forward has long limbs, deft hands, and bottomless energy.
He was born in the shadow of the national stadium four months after another France team had won the World Cup.
It was the same group of people back in 1998. A football team came up with a term to describe its cosmopolitan mix.
The Arc de Triomphe was lit up in honor of the World Cup win. There were a million people at the Champs Elysees.
This time, it was not that on the final whistle. Not yet. The spirit felt the same as the car horns blared and the songs spilled across the concourse and out into the streets.
France will host the Rugby World Cup in 23 months. This Paris spring feels like it was when the national team fell.
It was building all day ahead of the kick-off.
The lead writer of L&Equipe&s headline was imploring the class of 2022 to end a wait for a Six Nations clean sweep that had stretched like an eternity since their last game.
A behind-the-scenes documentary on the team's journey to the brink of glory was on the lunchtime television schedules.
Fans lined up from the entrance gates three hours before the game.
The wait was worth it. France was shining under the lights. They were quicker than England. They were cunning when space opened up. They could have scored more tries. Sometimes the wrong option was taken, the final pass didn't always go to hand.
They did not have to be perfect because they were so many streets ahead of their opponents. Even if they never lost heart, England ran short of ideas after being faced with a defence forged by Englishman.
There was a moment at the end of the first half when Henry Slade went on a sortie down the blind-side, but he was outnumbered and charged into contact.
The defenders swallowed him up and spat him out.
The game was over after an hour. English tacklers were left clawing at his coattails as he danced under the posts.
The win puts France second in the world rankings, leapfrogging New Zealand, who they beat on another exciting night in November.
It is part of an eight-Test winning streak. South Africa have lost four of their past seven games, so France can claim to be the real leader of the international game.
They have the best player. In December, Captain Dupont was voted the World Player of the Year.
He was born into a farming family in the south west of the country and followed a traditional route to the national team.
He is the face of the French side. The 1998 World Cup winners had more than one face in the foreground and more than one story in the background.
Woki, Demba Bamba, and Jonathan Danty took a less traveled road from Paris high-rise suburbs to the Stade de France.
In Normandy, a rugby desert until recently, Wing Gabin Villiere played sevens. Melvyn Jaminet played in the second tier.
Damian Penaud and Romain Ntamack are following in their fathers' footsteps.
The team from South Africa and the team from New Zealand have left the lands of their forefathers to arrive in France.
As the Tannoy volume dropped on the on-pitch celebrations, they were all there. When the team jumped over the advertising signs, they invoked memories of a previous time at the stadium.
They clapped high over their heads as they faced their fans. Slow down. And then even faster. Always together, as one.
The diversity of this France team is driving them towards greater history. They are not missing anything right now.
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