2023-09-09 01:06:08
He arrives relaxed in the auditorium, finishing his meal. Fabien Galthié is at the head of the first team to have beaten the All Blacks (27-13) in a World Cup group match, but is above all a coach happy with this successful entry into contention for the French XV at home Friday night. And if France has ideally launched its campaign, he is already planning on the points to improve.
What analysis do you make of this meeting?
FABIEN GALTHIE. We didn’t control the game in the first half. My feeling is that we were caught up in the atmosphere even though we had prepared ourselves for that. At the start of the match, we gave the All Blacks a fairly easy time. I think of this first try, on a key played. We were making a lot of slag, we had the impression more that the All Blacks were in control than us. But we returned to the locker room leading the score with our discipline. Then, the second half and the return of the finishers allowed us to regain control, but not immediately. They regained the score from errors. We can do better, but we won the showdown. We are very satisfied.
Becoming the first selection to beat New Zealand in a group match, is that an achievement?
These are the facts. The All Blacks had 31 consecutive victories in nine World Cups. For the tenth, they lost to us. It’s not an achievement, but we checked that box too. It was important, very important. We wanted to secure this prestigious victory.
You only conceded four penalties in this match, that was a big plus…
Clearly, this is what keeps us in contact with the New Zealanders in weak times, then allows us to take control, and gives Thomas Ramos the opportunity to get us back afloat with his foot. Afterwards, it’s difficult to identify a sector that wins a match, there are always three or four boxes to tick in order to win.
What are the points to improve in this first period?
We must be more collective with and without the ball. This is the request made at half-time. The stakes mean that we have certainly retracted. We had seen these weak signals in the preparation, we found it today in part of the match, before a second part which was a great success.
What’s the news on Julien Marchand, who was injured in the first half?
He suffered a hyperextended tear on a scratch. I have just seen the slow motion again, we imagine a muscular problem with an ischium given the symptoms. He preferred to go out, he was too weak. I can’t say more at the moment.
How do you judge this evening’s scenario?
I’m not going to say it’s perfect, because we might have a player injured for a few days, we’re never happy in those cases. But the result is very satisfactory.
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