RUGBY. French team. '' All defeats have given us hope ''

After the sparkling victory of XV of France against New Zealand last November, Fabien Galthié is now looking forward to the next 6 Nations Tournament to come. He displays his ambitions there. “ We want and we can win the competitions in which we are going to participate, in particular the Tournament “. With three receptions including Ireland and England and two trips to Cardiff and Edinburgh, the French have the advantage of the calendar , especially on potential direct adversaries such as the Irish and the English.

An evolution in the group?

In addition to the Tournament, the Blues will face the Japan this summer for a series of three Test-Matches, then the South African world champions for the autumn tour in St Denis. “ We have progressed at all levels, especially in the preparation of an international match, in psychology but we still have some leeway “. Room for maneuver that new players could exploit? The former coach of Stade Français , Montpellier and Toulon , evokes players such as Thomas Lavault , Leo Coly , Léo Berdeu , Ethan Dumortier or Lester Etien as players belonging to a new group of 75 monitored players. Among the 75 players, a group of 42 will stand out, whose composition will be unveiled on Monday, January 17.

Areas for improvement

Since Fabien Galthié took office, he has recorded a ratio of 70% of victories in 20 matches at the head of the ‘French team. With in particular five defeats in the last minutes (a striking example against Scotland during the 2021 Tournament), this fact represents a priority area of ​​work for the group. But the encouraging defeats now seem to carry all their senses.

Everyone has made progress levels, especially in the preparation of an international match, in psychology but we still have some leeway All the defeats have given us hope. They made the players believe in themselves. From competition to competition, we have the feeling that this team is progressing. This has always allowed us to improve dimensions of our game.

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The All Blacks , founding act?

“ When we met the morning of the match, with the staff, and I told them that if we lost, we should not question anything because we will have done what we could do best But if we win, we just have to not take the ball, keep our feet on the ground “. We know, winning after beating New Zealand is hard. As evidenced by Ireland which collapsed in 2019, England who lost their final of World Cup and launched its 2020 tournament with difficulty, achieving a great 6 Nations 2022 will be a great challenge. “ This match is one of the big victories like our first match against England (Tournament 2020) or the one in Australia (summer 2021) “. The performance against New Zealand allows to the staff and the players to achieve what they have been capable of in the past, and therefore hope to progress further.

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The choice of youth

Finally, Fabien Galthié is justified by the selection of a young team in 2020, with a view to creating an experience and a competitive group for the 2023 World Cup. “ We could have taken a much more mature, much older and perhaps more experienced team. It was a choice to arrive in 2023 with a team with a background, a common path for a consistency in the selection, and a continuity of collective development “. Antoine Dupont , symbol of the new French generation, best player in the world 2021, is considered by his coach as the one who will show the way to his teammates. “ I think that Antoine can make his partners want to be in the short list to be elected player of the year, and why not our team… “. Yes. Why not see higher?