“Honestly I think right now it’s the best team in the world” Jefferson Poirot, 36 selections in the France team during the difficult years, is categorical: the Blues have eaten their black bread. Saturday March 19, the XV of France of Fabien Galthié will face England, with a Grand Slam at stake. And the Bordelais is sure of the victory of the Blues: “I don’t think he’s stronger, even in the southern hemisphere. I don’t have too much doubt that he can make a Grand Slam.“
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A golden, talented generation. Everyone agrees on that. For the Argentinian Gonzalo Quesada, who was in the tricolor staff of the last Grand Slam, twelve years ago, these Blues have something more. “I feel that they love to play together. They know that there are big goals, they assume them and there is a freshness in the group which expresses something very interesting. Great teams are first and foremost great groups.“
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“I wish I could play with them!”
Olivier Magne, 90 caps for the France teamat franceinfo
This is what makes this team so irresistible, so endearing too, for Olivier Magne. He is the most successful French player with Fabien Pelous: four Grand Slams on the clock, between 1997 and 2007. “It is today a French team which returns to deep values, he believes. Values of work, will, patience to try to get the best of herself. I find myself in this team.“
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The 48-year-old former Montferrandais, selected 90 times, would almost see himself putting on his crampons just to be with them on the pitch tomorrow. “I would like to be able to play with them, because it is really the privilege of all top athletes: to be able to give emotions. When you were a former rugby player at this level, it makes you want to see them. This team makes me hungry for rugby.“And it’s a superb cake that the former champion is planning for tomorrow, the most beautiful of the Tournament with, he says, lots of cherries on it.
“At the moment, it’s the best team in the world”: the former XV of France fans of the Blues – testimonies collected by Fanny Lechevestrier
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