France-South Africa: Servat’s premonitory instructions and Galthié’s rant at half-time

2023-10-18 00:18:15

The days pass and, whatever we do, the Blues are still eliminated from their Rugby World Cup, beaten in the quarter-final on Sunday by South Africa (28-29). This Tuesday evening, the French Rugby Federation posted the latest episode of its Mixed Fates series online on the week of preparation for this match against the Springboks and the match itself.

In addition to the moments outside the Blues field, and their visit to the Notre-Dame de Paris restoration site, we see interesting images of the Blues training at Rueil-Malmaison and, in particular, a sequence shot in the middle of week with William Servat, the forwards coach.

In a premonitory way, when we know the controversies linked to the refereeing which followed this meeting, the former Toulouse hooker warns the players of the XV of France on the way in which the Springboks have the habit of disrupting the opposing rucks, especially with the tackler not properly clearing the tackle area, as required by the rule.

“As soon as we balance a little, we charge”

“The thing they do all the time, they tackle you and they actually get up on their hands and, with the force, they come to all fours to initiate the counter-ruck. So all the guys who are in this zone, we have to take them out. We don’t have the right to be guys who are surprised,” explains Servat

Obviously, the Blues were at times and the refereeing of New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe in this phase of play did not satisfy them, captain Antoine Dupont complaining on several occasions of not having clean balls and quick to play due to obstructions from South African tacklers. According to World Rugby statistics, the Springboks managed to increase France’s average ruck exit speed to 4.44 seconds compared to 4.14 in the rest of the competition.

Another notable moment, the half-time speech by coach Fabien Galthié, who is annoyed by the approximations of his players under the opposing kick, which cost the French XV two tries. “Please guys, put your hands up, grab these balloons for me. They can’t take three balls to our heads like that. We don’t let go of a ball. As soon as we push a ball back against them, as soon as we do a little balancing act, we charge. »

Then to finish on a positive note: “On the other hand, as soon as we play as we played, it’s normally 30 points, 30 points there should be. » In the end, there will be a one point difference between the two teams, in favor of the South Africans.