Fabien Gathlié unveiled Thursday, November 18 the composition of the XV of France who will challenge the All Blacks on Saturday, at the Stade de France. Among the changes made by the coach: the great return to the opening of Romain Ntamack. The Toulouse rugby player claims to have “never doubted”, after two tenure in half-tone in the center and book his feelings before “this great event”, as he calls it.
franceinfo: What does this match represent against the All Blacks?
It’s a lot of pride, honor, already being able to wear the jersey of your country and also to play against New Zealand, the myth of the All Blacks. This represents a lot in the history of rugby. And so to be lucky to play a match against them in France, it will be magic. My parents, my girlfriend, my family will be at the stadium this Saturday to experience this event which is quite grandiose for our sport. When we saw on the calendar that we were going to play the All Blacks, of course we all had this match in mind! It inspires everyone, it makes everyone dream, we all want to play these teams. We’ve been focused on it since day one of the rally. And even if we prepared two other games before, we were eager for this meeting to arrive.
What else does this New Zealand team have?
All ! She has great players, she has that famous black jersey that everyone dreams of. As soon as she plays, everyone vibrates. With so many top-class players, she is bound to arouse admiration.
Would a victory on Saturday, two years before the World Cup represent a milestone for you, for the XV of France?
Yes, I think that would validate all the work that has been provided for the past two years. We’re lucky to have a band that hasn’t changed much for two years and we’re really starting to get to know each other better and better. In training, things are going well, so obviously, a victory this Saturday would validate a lot of things. But once again, I think we shouldn’t put pressure on ourselves for the result. We have to play as we have been doing for two years and we will see.
“What matters is above all not to have any regrets at the end and that we are happy with us, that’s the main thing.”
Romain Ntamackto franceinfo
You will therefore find the position of opening half to play against New Zealand. Is it your preference?
Romain Ntamack: I have a preference necessarily, because I always said that I wanted to play 10 and that I was seen as an opener. Afterwards, I have evolved a lot of times at the center and if I ever have to play there again, I will do it with great pleasure and without any ulterior motives. So yes, I definitely want to be seen as an opener even if, once again, I can play in the center, if the staff decides.
You know each other by heart with your Toulouse teammate, Antoine Dupont (scrum half). How does your association work in the field?
We have been playing together for a few years now at the Stadium, we have had a series of big matches together in club and in the French team. So we are used to being around each other and yes, we get to know a little what the other is going to do or what the other has in mind before he even does it. It’s quite easy to play with Antoine again, so there will be no problem with the automatisms.
How did you get through these first two weeks in Blue. Much has been said about your repositioning at the center. How did you experience things?
Fairly well, quite easily actually. It’s true that I have listened to and seen everything that was being said in the press, but again, it didn’t really bother me more than that. I was very happy to play in the center. I learned early enough that I was going to be positioned in 12 at least for these first two games and to be as comfortable as possible then on the field.
From the outside, we sometimes had the impression that all your talent was not exploited, that it was a waste.
No, it’s not a mess at all. We had to find common benchmarks because this association had not yet been worked on. Automatisms are not created in two days. We had to train together, play games together. It is true that the first game against Argentina was not as we wanted. The opponent also made that we could not put our game in place. We weren’t satisfied with all that but against Georgia it was better, we found each other more, we had more benchmarks, we felt more at ease. Once again, we have to work together to have the best possible automatisms.
Do you still think that this association can last?
If the staff decides to partner with us again in the future, we will do everything to be the best we can and help the team. This is really the goal. No matter where the players are on the pitch, we know that we will all give 100%, even if we will not do all good things. But what is certain is that we will give the best of ourselves.
You never doubted during these two matches?
Not at all ! I had no doubts at all, even after this match against Argentina. At no time did I doubt. Even the team. We knew very well what we had done good and bad.
“It had been nine months since we had played together. We also had to evacuate all that, the reunion with the public as well. And we still won, despite everything.”
Romain Ntamackto franceinfo
How is the competition going with Matthieu Jalibert for the position of opener?
We really like to say that we are in competition or in competition, but we really don’t have that feeling. We try to give the best of ourselves, to be the best possible to help the team win. So there you have it, if the staff decides to partner with us, well, we’ll work together. If one must start and the other end, we will also work together, there is no problem with that.
Yet you are two strong characters …
But strong characters, there are at all positions! You know, if we get to that level and we don’t have a strong character, it would surprise me that we exist for a very long time. So, we have two strong characters but we all respect each other. We are still very respectful boys so we do everything to raise the level of the team. This is the only goal again.