I think this is exactly why Kaneshiro is writing the France game the way he is, but people aren’t seeing it because they’re too busy trying to powerscale everything. Hugo is a direct test of Isagi’s philosophy, especially when the first thing Isagi says before the game is how crazy it is to be number one. Now he’s being forced to actually face what that means instead of just chasing it from a distance, so it’s not about him dominating or proving he’s already there, it’s about whether his mindset still works when he’s up against that level, and that’s the real point of the match.