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Ranking Tournament 6 of Nations
Calendar and results 6 Nations
What assessment do you draw from the first two matches of this Tournament? What did you like and what might have upset you?
Patrick ARLETTAZ.-
What irritated me, I'm not going to say (smile)... The first match, honestly, not much.
We played with 14 very quickly against the Irish, whose rigor and ability to be in place we know.
We weren't.
We didn't have a good match, so there you go.
After this difficult match for everyone, with a lot of disappointment and pressure, we focused on three essential things for the trip to Scotland.
First of all, have an impeccable state of mind and solidarity.
This is true whatever the level: after such disillusionment, we had to tighten up.
It was the minimum, to show that this group was strong enough to get back up.
Then, we focused on being more solid in defense, more realistic and more opportunistic in attack.
On our launches, our ability to score when we enter the opposing 22... And, finally, the most ambitious: winning in Scotland.
The group was wonderful as it accomplished these three objectives against an opponent who was underrated relative to its value.
The players were affected by the defeat against Ireland.
But they need the confidence to do things spontaneously and quickly.
As soon as there is a little doubt, all the cogs take a hit.
Patrick Arlettaz
Despite this, your team still encountered difficulties breaking through the opposing defense...
It's true, we broke through too few times against Scotland, but several parameters explain this.
The players were affected by the defeat against Ireland.
But they need the confidence to do things spontaneously and quickly.
As soon as there is a little doubt, all the cogs take a hit.
A little delay all the time, at this high level, is detrimental.
It prevents everything.
We touched it at times but too few times, it's true.
But, from where we came from, it was not possible to hope that we would do it much more often.
If that means that in the future it has to be more often, yes, that's obvious.
This is what we strive to do.
But without wooden language, we first need to regain confidence.
And that means first returning to victory at all costs.
Only victory can put us back on track.
Read alsoXV of France: “I have beliefs so I propose them”, says Arlettaz, the new attack coach
What will be the ambitions against Italy?
To continue to win already.
This is an important ambition.
It is not sufficient, I understand that clearly, but it is necessary.
So first a victory.
Then, in each match, we want to be more efficient in our offensive play, in our circuits, in our ability to threaten defenses, in our ability to play high, to defend, to weigh more in conquest, to win our duels, to play moving forward… Rugby is a whole.
But the primary ambition, I repeat, is to win.
The French team must win.
The more you put in everything else, the more efficient you are in all areas of the game, so you have even more chances of winning.
We are aware that we need to progress on many points to have more and more weapons to win.
It's not more complicated than that.
As in a couple, it's easy, when everything is going well, to say we love each other.
It is in difficulty that we see the true face.
Patrick Arlettaz
But in the French team, there is hardly time to put everything in place.
I discovered that yes.
I now have twice as many caps as a coach (2) as a player (1), it’s magnificent (
smile
).
But I'll give you the steps.
From the outside, we have the impression that with the wave of a magic wand everything will come... I was told that this group was wonderful, that the players really love each other, that they are not starlets.
Like in a couple, it's easy, when everything is going well, to say we love each other.
It is in difficulty that we see the true face.
This was the case after Ireland.
And we went to win in Scotland.
So everything I was told about this group was true.
Also read: XV of France: “Let people stop talking to us about this World Cup”, demands Thomas Ramos
After Scotland, Thomas Ramos said the players needed to free themselves. What did he mean?
Exactly what I just said.
When we have more confidence, more control, more rhythm, we will play more liberated.
To be more ambitious, more effective, we need this confidence.
It allows you to free yourself, therefore to have more automatisms, to end up with more binder, in a more fluid way.
This sport reminds us to what extent, before taking extreme pleasure, it requires enormous effort and rigor.
So that it becomes natural, so that you no longer have to think.
It starts from the conquest, from a big defense before having a long sequence which leads to the test.
But if it were easy it would be known...
The Maxime Lucu-Matthieu Jalibert hinge is criticized. Why don't they reproduce in blue what they do with the UBB?
It's the same thing again.
There is a certain logic.
When the team hesitates, moves more slowly, releases are less fluid, there is a little doubt, adjustments need to be made, who suffers?
Those who have to play 15 guys against 15 other guys who want to stop them.
It's a matter of one second between the right and wrong decision.
The pace is no longer the same, the defense is no longer the same, the fragility that we detected is no longer in the same place... You can't tell me that this hinge is made up of bad players.
They don't deliberately perform a little less well with the France team than with the UBB.
You can't think that...
Comments collected at a press conference