How important is it to play this match in Toulouse?
Fabien Galthié.
We will play in front of our families, our educators, our trainers.
This trip is very important to us to share with them a great moment of rugby.
It is not insignificant.
This region matters to us and to rugby.
You renewed the backbone of the tour.
Have you had the temptation to resort to more competition, at least for the management of egos?
It's a reflection that we have every day when we build the France team.
Collective experience is one of the performance factors.
Despite our strong desire to raise this slider, be careful, these figures are complicated to understand, against South Africa, this figure was around 12 for us against 40 for our opponent.
And we finished the game under 7. It's very difficult to get that number up.
Our premium team plays little, eight matches per season.
And ten high intensity workouts.
Training at 42 makes it possible to integrate players, who are already familiar with the organization, the work, the international experience.
We save a little time with this invisible collective experience.
But it is difficult to mount this slider.
By the World Cup,
plus four friendly matches in August 2023, editor's note
), we will arrive below 20, which is still half of a potential opponent like South Africa.
“All the players have to be ready.
You can start the World Cup on your sofa and finish it at the Stade de France.
»
But, concerning the post of opener, are you not afraid that Matthieu Jalibert does not understand not to start?
Matthieu enters twice in very difficult conditions and is one of the finishers who changed the match.
He fits into our project, he brings all his talent and know-how to very important moments.
Emulation, not competition, is very good.
I'm going to talk about memory duty again.
Romain Ntamack is only 22 years old but he has already carried the French team very, very high.
And then, during this tour, we try to imagine that it is the final phase of the World Cup.
Three matches that follow one another, quarter, half and final.
Which inevitably creates damage.
You can start the World Cup on your sofa and finish it at the Stade de France.
We really need all our players.
They have to be ready, including those who don't
not necessarily expect to be called like Florian Verhaeghe on this last test.
Against Japan, we placed an unprecedented second line on the bench.
It proves that every French player can think very hard about wearing the shirt.
Florian is coming off an impressive season with Montpellier, like Bastien (
Chalureau
).
Read alsoXV of France: “I am less naive than in the past”, warns Thomas Ramos
Is your team safe from a slack against Japan?
We don't see things that way.
We are going to touch on what we are trying to achieve in less than a year.
We train to live what can happen against three nations from the South to face in the quarter-finals, in the semi-finals and then in the final.
What can happen to us in ten months.
We know it leaves traces.
It's the case.
We must therefore be prepared to play such a sequence.
Tripping the carpet is always possible, but we consider Japan as a major opponent, this match as a final.
The Japanese are capable of causing problems for any nation.
They missed their match against England last week but, three weeks ago against the All Blacks,
“Normally, the offensive fluidity should appear more clearly and evidently against Japan.
»
There were few game starts against South Africa. Is this a concern?
There have been a few, including the two that bring the two tries.
But South Africa is the highest and strongest defending team on the circuit.
It was necessary to find appropriate launches against this adversary which diminishes space-time.
By finding space on the ground.
We did it well, playing very high….
Afterwards, it's difficult to prepare everything in such a short time.
It goes very quickly to lay the tactical and defensive bases, the offensive base, it's more complicated.
It takes more time for game launches. But, normally, our third game should be the most successful, the offensive fluidity should appear more clearly and evidently.
There we will be better at all levels, with more work done together, more complementarity,
but a collective experience that will drop during the match.
Another key factor is the weather.
It will be wet on Sunday in Toulouse.
Playing with a slippery ball is more difficult...
Statements taken at a press conference
