2024-01-11 04:07:16
Would Fabien Galthié have taken stock of the Rugby World Cup? Would the coach have ended up admitting, deep down, that his Blues had suffered too many losses (injuries to Ntamack, Marchand, Baille, Willemse, Danty, etc.) and lacked a bit of energy at the moment? go pick up the William Webb-Ellis trophy? Too physically strained during preparation and embarked on a grueling season spent juggling international deadlines and club objectives?
Galthié will not admit it, as he has been careful until now to provide a real explanation for the elimination of the French XV in the quarter-finals of the World Cup by South Africa (29-28), but his words in the newspaper The Team this Wednesday let the beginnings of awareness emerge.
“It may be that we take players out of international level for a season to let them regenerate, that we offer them breaks based on their performances,” he announced. We are not inventing anything, the All Blacks did it between 2011 and 2015. For a single objective: to put them back at full strength on the international circuit the following year, always with this horizon of 2027 (the World Cup in Australia ). »
The desire of his captain and main man Antoine Dupont to get some fresh air this season by renouncing the Six Nations Tournament (which begins on February 2 with the reception of Ireland in Marseille) and by attempting the adventure of The French team of 7, with the objective of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (July 24 to 30 for the discipline), and above all the need to breathe expressed the day after the defeat of the Blues by the third center line Grégory Alldritt who replaced the crampons with La Rochelle at the end of December after two and a half months off, undoubtedly challenged him.
“The objective was to regenerate better in order to come back better”
“I feel really good today,” confirmed Alldritt on the evening of his victorious recovery against Toulouse (29-8) on December 30. At the end of the World Cup, I said I felt like I was 35 years old. There, I feel like I’m 26 again. » In an interview with AFP this Wednesday, the 3rd row added: “I could have played rugby in November or December, but I had this desire because the season is long, there are still five months left. Physically, I felt like I needed to recover. So it was a bit of a desire and a necessity. If I could redo it, I would. It’s work on the future, to be even stronger afterwards. The objective was to regenerate better in order to come back better. »
The coach got the message. “When a player says I’m stepping back for three months, knowing that he’s the club’s number 1, it’s a strong decision,” he said in L’Équipe. At our level, we could do it over a season, by putting a developing or potential player in place. It will always be a benefit for the French team and for the players. It’s for their own good, they must understand that. All this will be done in co-construction with them, in full trust and awareness. »
Fabien Galthié, who, according to the new agreement, amendment to the FFR-LNR convention, will summon 34 players to each gathering, instead of 42 during his previous mandate, has already started working in this direction by deciding not to bring any executive player, known as “premium”, during the tour in Argentina next July. The coach has also, during meetings in recent weeks with representatives of Top 14 clubs, tried to make them aware of the reduced use of their internationals. General outcry expressed by Ugo Mola, the manager of Stade Toulouse and Pierre Mignoni, that of Toulon. “Don’t let anyone tell us how we should manage our internationals, that’s our business,” they responded in unison. End of refusal.
“It will be very difficult for the players to accept being sidelined”
“I often tell players that they do not need to cross the field every weekend in the championship,” underlined Fabien Galthié. It’s impossible. And yet, we ask them to do it. They have nothing to prove to me at this level. Above all, I want them to be in a good psychological and physical state to play their best rugby from time to time. We want them in good shape with us. » The clubs, who are their employers, want them to be in good shape with them, too.
“It’s insoluble,” says a Top 14 manager. “It’s not going to get better because whether in the French team or in the club, the players are under constant pressure, even in training. They need to breathe but they are caught in a spiral and it will be very difficult for them to accept being sidelined because they know that if they are put aside, even temporarily, by the Blues staff, they may be -be overtaken by competitors. Apart from Dupont, and again, no one will be guaranteed to find their place. But we must not forget that there are also contracts at stake.”
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