Starting
Cyril Baille
who has just resumed competition and only played 34 minutes, is that taking a risk?
Fabien Galthié:
Yes, indeed.
For him as for others.
When you play rugby, a contact sport, you can get hurt in the confrontation.
Cyril resumed competition last week, training the week before.
He validated everything we needed to know for a possible tenure.
For him as for all the staff, we seem ready to take up the challenge.
Romain Ntamack has also removed all doubts?
A bit the same as for Cyril.
We followed his return to training, then with us.
He was able to experience two weeks of preparation with uncompromising training.
The proof with the injury and the package of Paul Willemse.
We get hurt in our workouts, given their intensity.
But they provide answers on the feelings of the players.
It therefore seems to us that Romain is ready.
And that the whole team around him is ready.
“Why constantly challenge the players on the pretext that they would experience a sluggish start to the season?
»
What message does this send to the competition, to Dany Priso and Matthieu Jalibert, these tenure of Baille and Ntamack?
There is no competition but emulation.
They all wear the same jersey, are all focused on the same mission.
This mission requires gathering, federating and sharing on behalf of all rugby lovers... To get back to Priso, we send him a message: we put him on the game sheet.
Its very important.
He is one of the finishers, this role so difficult where you come in and you have to win the match.
Even more on Saturday because Australia are going to give us, I think, the most difficult last twenty minutes to play that we have ever known.
It's the same for Jalibert.
It covers the positions of 10, 15 and, possibly, goalscorer.
The message is that they are with us, that they are wearing the France team jersey.
And that the players all have the same mission:
Is it also a proof of confidence to establish Cameron Woki who is not having his best start to the season with Racing 92?
Woki is part of the team that made the Grand Slam, of this premium team which has 87% of victories.
The foundation of our team is collective experience.
Why constantly challenge players on the pretext that they would experience a sluggish start to the season?
Woki put himself in danger by changing clubs.
He has been part of the adventure from the start.
First among the released players, then in the development team and he seized the opportunity.
There is a form of trust between us and that is important.
We have eight official matches to play before the World Cup.
We seek to make the best use of the potential and the time we have available.
We arbitrate with all these ideas.
So far we have succeeded...
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Thomas Ramos
will finally get his chance at the back.
Compared to other players, Thomas Ramos has had few starts since the start of our term, it's true.
There were performances like that of Bouthier, then Dulin, then Jaminet.
But Thomas was one of the 23 players who made the Grand Slam, his versatility enabling him to cover 10 and 15. Jaminet and Buros injured, he won through his performances with Stade Toulousain.
But the Top 14 is not the international level.
It is therefore an interesting challenge for him.
But he is used to training with this team, he knows it well.
If he wears a jersey, he owes it to his performance and the quality of his training.
He will also be the scorer for the France team on Saturday evening?
They will share the role of footwork with Ntamack.
Romain will be responsible for finding the keys, typing the references.
The strike on goal will be held by Thomas Ramos.
“After the match, Jo (Danty) will take the car and go to attend the birth of his child”.
Why did you prefer Thibaut Flament to Romain Taofifenua, whose athletic profile is more like that of Paul Willemse, to compensate for the latter's package?
In Japan, Thibaut made both matches under 40 degrees on the right and he was very good.
It is not the same profile as Paul of course.
We also think of him.
It's very hard for him, for us, to miss the next round against South Africa… Romain, we need him as a finisher to, among other things, accompany Dany Priso.
The companion of Jonathan Danty awaits a happy event. Can he forfeit by Saturday evening?
First, it's fantastic for him.
I will talk about myself.
I experienced the same thing for France Australia in Marseille in 2011. We played and the next day I flew to attend the birth of my son.
Everything is planned for Jonathan.
(
Big smile
) Everything is planned with the La Rochelle maternity hospital.
After the match, he takes the car and goes to attend the birth of his child.
But if the delivery takes place earlier?
(
Mockingly
) The question does not arise, the predictive is there I tell you.
It's written… More seriously, it's Jo's choice.
And we're all waiting for Jo's son, like in La Guille's film.
Ten months from the World Cup, this is the last time you will face teams from the Southern Hemisphere. What are your expectations ?
We have had a vision for four years.
We try to be consistent, to work well on each challenge proposed.
It's a vision but by working on immediacy, on the adversary who presents himself.
The Australians have been together for five months.
We must succeed in two weeks.
That's why we use a lot of our experience, of the 27 matches we have already played.
We work on the knowledge we have of our players and our team to accumulate collective experience and knowledge.
We learn to improve all these moments and to live together.
What do you think of your opponent, Australia?
We studied them closely.
It's a bit like the All Blacks who aren't doing well but won the Four Nations… If we look at our results against Australia since 2005, it's a team we've beaten very little: only four times.
It's a double world champion team, which has a culture, special qualities of players, both inventive and creative, solid and punchy.
They are cowboys, very tough fighters…