Sport Six Nations Tournament
Winners, Saturday, of the Six Nations Tournament for the first time in twelve years, the Blues have come back up the slope since the appointment of the coach at the end of 2019.
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Fabien Galthié, Saturday March 19, 2022, at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis. FRANCK FIFE / AFP
For the new coach of a XV of France in the doldrums, this "return to earth" must lead to "laying everything flat" to rebuild by drafting together a roadmap with a clear objective: "To become a major nation again of world rugby. »
Of which act Saturday March 19, 2022. With their victory against England (25-13), the Blues won the Six Nations Tournament for the first time in twelve years, signing in passing a grand slam (no defeat), the tenth of their history.
Read also Winner of the English, the XV of France wins the Six Nations Tournament and wins the Grand Slam
This success comes to punctuate two and a half years during which the French, led by a sparkling squadron commander, Antoine Dupont, have chained good results: the success against England being the eighth victory in a row. Above all, the XV of France now displays a serenity in the game – and outside – that it had rarely, if ever, known. The fruit of meticulous work, and of a finally favorable situation.
"We don't work enough on high-level things"
Because it didn't all start in Montgesty – a Lot village whose town councilor is the coach's father. Galthié's project for the Blues was born long before, the former coach of Stade Français, Montpellier and Toulon had time to refine it, his candidacy for the post of coach having been rejected three times (2007, 2011, 2015).
Appointed in 2019, he joins the team of his predecessor, Jacques Brunel, to observe the state of the troops during the World Cup. With Raphaël Ibañez, former captain of the Blues like him, alongside whom he played, Fabien Galthié then formed a tandem: to him, the technician, the "artist" – the words are from Raphaël Ibañez -, the business of the field . The Landes manager takes care of the rest. "I told him, 'don't worry, I'll go to the front,'" Ibañez explained at the start of 2020. Accustomed to scrapping in melee, the former hooker takes on the role of "diplomat", capable of putting oil in the wheels than banging your fist on the table.
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It is the latter who will negotiate and obtain clubs to be able to count on forty-two players at each gathering, against thirty-one previously. Either the number considered necessary, according to the data accumulated by the French staff, to ensure that they can train at fifteen against fifteen, taking into account injuries and malforms.
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