Flanked by his new captain Grégory Alldritt, the coach presented himself with his head down at a press conference in the corridors of the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille.
Aware of the magnitude of this defeat against Ireland (17-38) at the opening of the Six Nations Tournament, the heaviest since his debut at the head of the French XV four years ago, Fabien Galthié refused to analyze while admitting that it will have to be digested, emotionally.
What is your first feeling?
FABIEN GALTHIÉ.
It's a defeat with a very particular scenario.
At 14 against 15 (the 2nd line Paul Willemse was sent off in the 32nd minute for a charge at the head of an opponent) and with 5 tries conceded.
It’s a moment to live collectively, a hard moment.
The Tournament continues.
There are four games left to play.
In eight days, we're going to Scotland.
We're going to get ready.
How do you explain the lack of energy in the first half?
It's difficult to analyze this match.
We're not starting off too badly.
We have a possession.
Then, it's true that we played under pressure almost the entire game and especially in the first half with a yellow card followed by a red card.
Is it a lack of energy?
We will try to understand.
Is the World Cup digested?
This evening we must raise our heads and already digest this defeat.
We prepared for two weeks with precision and intensity, imagining another scenario.
But that’s not the one that happened.
We'll make do with it.
This is the biggest defeat of your mandate, with a lot of excitement, errors...
The Irish played their game.
We played with fourteen people.
Before doing the precise analysis, we will take the time to digest, emotionally.
We're going to do it together.
There is too much disappointment to be lucid in the analysis.
There are things to review and share.
We're going to take it step by step.
Should we give way to a new generation?
That's not what I told the players.
It's not because it went badly that they are going to pay for it in selection.
There will be no changes in the squad apart from the injured, sick or suspended (Wardi, Taofifenua, Willemse).
You were talking about the injunction of victory, how are you going to avoid the little music that is sure to rise...
Yes, we know what's going to happen.
This is part of the responsibilities and exposure that we must have when we wear the jersey of the France team or when we are responsible, like me, for this team.
How did you find the fighting intensity you were talking about before the match?
The scenario of the match did not allow us to go where we wanted to go.
not just because of the red card.
We were behind in the score.
At 17-10 at halftime we say to ourselves that it is possible even if we have no room for maneuver.
Compared to the initial strategy, it is difficult to say that we have gotten closer to what we wanted to do.
Is this professional misconduct on the part of Paul Willemse?
No, I can't say that about a player from the France team who signs up to defend the line.
We know that these fouls with contact to the head are punished very harshly and that is normal.
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The team seemed to lack speed and intensity.
How to cure it ?
The offensive performance was not there.
There was a lot of waste, fallen balloons.
We had prepared to dominate the collisions and build intensity.
Playing with fourteen against Ireland didn't help us.
We have to raise the bar both offensively and defensively.