The staff admitted to the press their doubts about the composition to face Wales on Sunday. An unusual occurrence since Fabien Galthié took office.
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It has become a ritual in Marcoussis. On the Monday or Tuesday before the Blues matches, it was enough to observe the bibs in training to guess the composition. In blue, future starters, in white, finishers or players outside the group. So, Tuesday March 5, when executives like Charles Ollivon or Thomas Ramos put on a white bib to prepare for the trip to Wales on Sunday March 10 at 4 p.m. (on France 2 and france.tv), penultimate match of the Tournament of the six nations, observers did not understand much.
Was it a desire to cover the tracks? Did this new method in four years rather reflect a trial and error on the part of the management? Probably a bit of both. “Usually, we also know the team composition from the start of the week”admitted forward co-coach Laurent Sempéré. Between the injury of Matthieu Jalibert, the suspension of Jonathan Danty, the mishaps and the messy returns, the management found itself plunged into a major headache.
“We adapted the method and the operation a little because we needed to see the state of form […] before making final choicescontinued Sempéré. Usually there’s a little more readability, even for us.” The next day, Wednesday March 6, the traditional system was put back in place. It made it possible to see a little more clearly and to see the scale of the project.
An unprecedented turnover in the Tournament since 2015?
Eight changes, or more than half of the team, are expected compared to the starting XV against Italy (13-13), barring injury and other last-minute unforeseen events. They must be ratified during the official announcement of the composition, Friday at 11:45 a.m. Unheard of between two matches in the same Tournament since… 2015, at the end of the Philippe Saint-André era. Under his mandate, Fabien Galthié had changed a maximum of five players, during a 2021 edition disrupted by an outbreak of Covid-19 in the group.
The main lesson is that the coach paves the way for young novices. Galthié insisted before Italy that rugby was not “not Star Academy, not Koh Lanta” to justify the absence of “massive turnover” ? Two weeks later, however, he is preparing to offer a first international start to four players, something he has not done in the same match of the Tournament since… taking office, in January 2020, against the ‘England.
Emmanuel Meafou’s baptism of fire was expected. It will finally take place, since the neonaturalized colossus is back from injury at the same time as Grégory Alldritt, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Thibaud Flament. As in the club, the two Toulouse residents will form a complementary second line full of certainties.
Recklessness to unlock a broken attack?
The firsts from center Nicolas Depoortere (21 years old, Bordeaux-Bègles) and fullback Léo Barré (21 years old, Stade Français) arouse more curiosity. Firstly because they were not necessarily scheduled for this Tournament, the young three-quarters taking advantage of the respective absences of Danty and Jalibert – Thomas Ramos “rising” thus at the opening. But also because of the carelessness linked to their offensive style of play, like the 80m try scored by Depoortere on Saturday against Racing 92.
Having entered the first three matches, Nolann Le Garrec (21 years old, Racing) also “won the jersey”, according to the established “Galthiéian” expression, and is expected to start for the first time with the 9 on the back. Not always helped by his pack but never transcendent, Maxime Lucu would thus pay the price for his emergence. If this change were confirmed, it would be the first – excluding injury – in the Tournament, at the turning point during the Galthié era. One more sign of the unprecedented trials and errors in recent years.