between “dolce vita” and recovery, why is the XV of France preparing for the clash against Ireland in Rome?

Rome, the sun, the street singers, the sweet life… It is in this atmosphere that the Blues have taken up residence since the beginning of the week. After the victory in Rome against Italy, at the opening of the Six Nations Tournament, the French team did not return to Marcoussis, the headquarters of French rugby, before its trip to Ireland on Saturday. This allows the XV of France to have one less travel day.

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The idea of ​​the staff was to get the players out of their routine. “It’s not new, explains Raphaël Ibanez, the manager of the XV of France. For three years now, we have been renewing this experience, to ensure that players can have a touch of originality, variety and freshness.”

Thus, the players were able to cut with rugby by strolling anonymously along the Tiber or being seen for some around the Colosseum. The third line from La Rochelle Grégory Alldritt enjoyed every moment. “It buys a bit of recovery time.”

“We had the chance to walk around Rome or stay quiet at the hotel. It feels good.”

Gregory Alldritt

at franceinfo

Antoine Dupont’s teammates just had a little training session yesterday against the local police rugby team. This regeneration was essential for the Blues. The staff has thus learned the lessons of previous tournaments, justifies one of the assistant coaches Karim Ghezal. “We noticed that we arrived tired, exhausted because we trained a lot. We made oppositions, we did not make a cuthe says. From 2022, it was an evolution that we were bringing. We, the theme of all we have is energy. These are moments of breathing that are necessary to perform and have the energy at the right time.”

The Blues have an appointment on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to face Ireland, the world number one. A victory would allow the staff to validate their strategy with the World Cup in the back of their minds in September.