If he did not say it clearly, as a great follower of tightrope walkers, the coach of the Blues turned close enough to the pot for the ambitions of the XV of France to be obvious: Fabien Galthié’s players want to seek the final victory in the Tournament. The first press conference of the Six Nations Tournament, which brought together coaches and captains, was an opportunity to discuss the challenges of the 2022 edition.
How are you approaching this tournament? The World Cup in France will take place in 2023, what place does it have in your preparation?
Fabien Galthié: We have known for two years now that the World Cup will be in France, it has been a visible objective on our way from the start. We have built our progress keeping in mind the deadlines to come. All the matches that will lead us there are identified, dated. Today, we played 20, we have 20 left. So we try to keep immediacy as our first objective, and there it is the Tournament with this opening match against Italy.
In this path you were talking about, is one of the objectives to win the Tournament?
In view of the latest results of each team, it is a very tough tournament, even if it still is. Every team is in a position to win, every match is a completely different story with completely different strategic approaches, different game facts. That being said, from the start, our ambition has been to win the matches and competitions in which we are involved. The first tournament, we lost in goal average against the English, the second just against the Welsh, the objective is always the same. The staff, the players are growing, improving in their preparation, in their method. Our goal is to build to climb this last step.
Have you noticed a change in the confidence of the team since the victory against the All Blacks (40-25)?
Not yet. We don’t yet have enough common experience. In selection, we say goodbye on the evening of the match, it is difficult to have recovery time, time to discuss and see what the impact has been on the players. We’ve been back together for only two days, but from what I saw from afar watching their return to the club, they seem to continue to grow, to be happy, but these are only impressions. .
Do you have any news of the players who have tested positive, in particular your captain Antoine Dupont? And will he be captain against Italy?
Yes, we talk to them remotely and we have good news about the players, whether it’s their state of health or their state of mind. Antoine was captain in the selection communicated last week, he is not there because he has the Covid. In his absence, Gaël Fickou, who was the captain in the last minutes of the match against the All Blacks, is the team captain. For the moment, we do not know who will be captain against Italy, we will communicate it when we have the information.