What is the objective of these training sessions with young people in the Landes forest?
Fabien Galthié:It was planned in our agenda since the resumption of our activities. We had a seminar in Marcoussis in June and then we organized a whole calendar to get us back on track and in practice. We need to train to train. It is the week of gatherings of academies, of the best young French players in order to form the teams of France U18, U19, U20 and we jumped at the opportunity. The DTN, the cell of the very high level of French rugby, allowed us to come and connect with these players and prepare three days of work. We are in the process of developing a new training formula to be more efficient and competitive. We use these young players as a laboratory.
Can you detail this new training formula?
We are still in a form of training with 42 players, it is the basis of the capacity for work at very high intensity. We consider that it is with maximum fatigue that we learn to make the right decisions and to play fair, with the right technical gestures. For us, sensory practice is done at very high intensity.
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For the Fall Tour, are you sure you have these 42 players?
We are sure we have 42 players. They may not all come from the Top 14, but we will have 42 players to work on. The different institutions are discussing to try to find the best solution or the less bad solution. What we are looking for is harmony, dialogue, the proper functioning of the various institutions and above all respect for the players. We are ready to adapt. The high level means constantly adapting to these constraints.
"We are not selected because we are shooting"
You understand the sensitivity of clubs today, everything that falls on them ...
We understand everything. There is not even a debate. We are very attached to our method which works, which works, which has succeeded in bringing the French team back to the gates of our objective which is the World Top 3. This method allowed us to catch up with the teams that were in front of us in an incredible way, it allowed us to build a very young French team (24 years old, 8 selections on average). We have a very clear roadmap, a goal, goals, we repeat them constantly, we are very transparent. Sixty-six players received a maintenance file yesterday, we continue to move forward with this vision, this roadmap.
It is possible that you do not have the 42 best players for these tests? Are you ready to spin?
I don't like the word "turn". When we play for the France team, we don't play because things are going well but we play because at the moment T, we are the best representative of French rugby. In the past, during the 10 years that have passed, we have suffered enough and no one wants to relive what we have been through. So let's try to move on to another stage, another era, that of victories and performances.
Are you prepared, if asked, not to have 6 matches played by the same player?
But of course and even I go further by taking the problem in the other direction. The player who is going to play for the France team will be the best player at the moment T. A player can play 4 matches and we can consider that he is going to be tired and then you have to put another fresher player and more available physically, psychically. This is how you have to pose the problem and not say "we're shooting". Semantics are very important. We are not selected because we are shooting. We are selected because we are the best player of the France team at the moment T. There is no selection that falls from the sky.
Interview by AFP
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