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Fabien Galthié: “We are behind what we hoped for four years ago”

2023-03-16T12:19:15.370Z


The coach explained his choices on the composition of the Blues who will face Wales on Saturday (3:45 p.m.) at the Stade de France at the end of the Six Nations Tournament. And takes stock before this 35th and last official match before the World Cup.


As soon as his suspension is finished,

Uini Atonio is back in the starting XV

.

How essential is it?


Fabien Galthié

 : He has been performing for two seasons.

He counts by his experience, by his intrinsic qualities, his strength in melee.

It is the best straight pillar in the world in this sector.

Which makes him an indisputable starter.

It allows the XV of France to have its bases and that is decisive.

Without a pack of dominant forwards, it's complicated then to express your potential...

To discover

  • Calendar and results 6 Nations

  • Ranking Tournament 6 of Nations

As a result, despite his good comeback against England, Dorian Aldegheri disappears from the score sheet…


Dorian is having an exam this morning.

He is touched with the adductors and unavailable.

So he comes out with an injury.

Why did you start Romain Taofifenua on the second line?


Because it's the second choice on the right, quite simply.

Paul

(Willemse)

package, he returns naturally.

It is obvious.

Romain has always made good returns.

You also worked in training with Charles Ollivon on the second row.

Is it a hypothesis during the match?


It is not easy for a third line to be offered to push in the second line.

It can even be upsetting.

It means that we get older and that we run a little slower… But Charles immediately accepted.

“The Twickenham game makes us think we can play even better”

Do you really believe in first place in the Tournament?

Can England win in Dublin? 


Already, we will focus on us.

To be able to win the tournament, you have to beat Wales.

Don't get the wrong opponent.

There, we hold our destiny.

We will then see what Ireland does, undefeated for the moment.

It does not belong to us...

After the Twickenham demonstration, do you fear your team will be overconfident?


Confidence is good.

The risk of excess?

Yes… But Wales won the Tournament two years ago.

It's not far… Some of the Welsh players have made three Grand Slams, won five Tournaments.

They have players with over 100 caps.

It is a team that has always impressed with its virtues.

No matter what, they leave their bodies on the line.

So… And then, the Twickenham match gave us a lot of satisfaction, we won't hide it, but we could also see many points for improvement.

Unpretentious, we can play better with the ball.

This match has opened doors for us that lead us to believe that we can play even better.

Read alsoXV of France: "I can do even better", insists Alldritt after his big match against England

This match against Wales is the 35th official match played since the beginning of your mandate but also the last in competition before the World Cup.

Are you where you expected four years ago?


(

Adamant

) No!

We are late compared to what we had hoped for four years ago.

We had 35 matches, so 35 capes to distribute.

We captured more than 70 players (

79, including 45 newcomers, Ed.

), which is more than expected, namely 50. This is learning the job.

I realize that it is rather necessary to count between 20 and 25 selections of won on average with the French model.

We are still below all the European selections, so we are not at the maximum of our collective potential.

It's by walking that we learn and we realized that we advance more slowly than expected.

Despite our desire to work on the collective experience, we lost a few players along the way.

The ratio is 30% of players absent for injury.

What we hadn't anticipated either was that we had to cut the season in two.

For the A's, the Autumn Tour and the Six Nations, and a development squad for the Summer Tour matches.

Finally, it was an opportunity,

it allowed us to get out of the potential, to dig into the French pool, to give many players the opportunity to know our methods, even for only three days.

This allowed us to develop potentials and give them hope.

“That 14-game winning streak may have lost our fire a little bit.

We have to keep this fire going…”

In the name of this collective experience, you renew in priority the incumbents.

Isn't there a risk that these players will feel settled?


The word installed is interesting, the word comfort too.

In the chaos of matches, having certainties can help.

But, at the same time, in the emulation, the competition to come and get this jersey, it can create, it's true, a kind of unconscious pause, "we're going to do a little less".

This series of 14 victories may have made us lose the sacred fire a little.

We have to keep this fire going.

It's a challenge when you have a dominant position.

But, fortunately, we met the best team in the world, Ireland.

It brought us a lot.

With these good results, the demonstration of Twickenham, you caused a crazy expectation among the supporters in view of the World Cup…


That's what we wanted.

Win matches, then win titles – for the moment in the singular – and once again become a world nation, in the top 3. That's what we did.

Statements taken at a press conference

Source: lefigaro

All sports articles on 2023-03-16

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