After having come close to the derailment, with the multiplication of cases of Covid-19 within it, the French rugby team intends to get back on the right track. The recipe of the breeder, Fabien Galthié, himself at the heart of the turmoil caused by “The Covid episode”, as he qualified by speaking on Thursday, March 11, for the first time in nearly a month? “Switch to rugby very quickly. “
Two days before the “Crunch” at Twickenham, where the Blues will try to win for the first time in competition since 2005 against the England team, the French coach remained straight in his boots after his first crisis since taking office at the end of 2019.
“As I have already said, all my actions, all our actions have been in full compliance with health rules, hammered Fabien Galthié after announcing the team called to face England on Saturday March 13 (at 5.45 p.m. French time). We have respected this health protocol as well as possible since the first day in Nice. The protocol protects us, but zero risk does not exist. “
Cleared by the investigation report requested by the sports ministry after sixteen cases of Covid-19 (twelve players and four members of the staff, including the coach) came to stop their good debut in the Six Nations Tournament (two victories in as many games), the Blues did not wish to comment on health issues.
As revealed by The World, after consulting the health report set up by the Six Nations Committee ahead of the Tournament to fight the pandemic linked to the new coronavirus, the XV of France did not break the rules. These leave enough room for interpretation so that outings to attend a match (Fabien Galthié) or in the streets of Rome (some players) fall within the perimeter of “This famous bubble, which in reality is not a bubble but a protocol”, in the words of Bernard Laporte, the president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR).
The “last adjustments” of the health protocol
But “bubble” or “protocol”, the multiplication of cases within the XV of France – along with the three other clusters developed in the French rugby sevens teams, under 20 years old and women – has forced the Federation to review its copy, at the instigation of the sports ministry.
“Now, no more leaving the hotel. It’s belt and suspenders, we make a real bubble “, had exposed Bernard Laporte, on March 5, after a working breakfast with the Minister for Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, and his supervisory Minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer (Minister of National Education, youth and sports).
Thursday, it is the manager of the Blues, Raphaël Ibanez, who exposed in the preamble the “Current Covid device” and his “Last adjustments”, in which its prerogatives have increased: “I just have to make sure there is a good connection between the medical sector and management. “
If the former captain of the XV of France recalled “The requirement that we must demonstrate in view of the current health context”, Fabien Galthié took refuge behind the conclusions of the internal report of the Federation, dodging questions about his possible responsibility in the cluster of the Blues.
“I don’t blame myself for anything in this episode, everything was done in accordance with the rules. “ In “Understanding and accepting” that the exhibition of the French team, ” very popular “, make him the target of criticism.
“We had meetings to talk about the conclusions that were given: we had the same, whether it was the media or the players”, said, for his part, the back Brice Dulin. United in the fray, the XV of France sticks to the internal investigation report and, if they have “Spoke again between [eux] of “the Covid episode” and the report “ on their return to Marcoussis (Essonne) on Sunday, “ the players wanted to switch very quickly to rugby ”, expressed Fabien Galthié. Him too.
“Very little time to procrastinate”
The technician from Lot smiled, after an impassive start to the press conference, when a first question addressed the field and the upcoming clash against XV de la Rose. “We had very little time to procrastinate, we are fully committed to the project”, he recalled.
Since his arrival at the helm of the Blues at the end of 2019, the Ibanez-Galthié tandem has paved a “Arrow of time” that the XV of France must go until the finish, namely a home victory at the 2023 World Cup.
Like 2020, the year 2021 adds turns to this ascent. “The arrow of time has known, since the beginning of our history, a lot of events. We had to stop the Tournament last year, we did the Autumn Cup, a new competition, and there we took a break that we will call “the Covid episode”. We’re used to it “, noted the coach.
Fabien Galthié and Raphaël Ibanez aspire to turn the page of this “Covid episode”. At the end of the press conference, the manager of the Blues congratulated himself on being closer “From a point of equilibrium: at least as many questions on rugby as on the Covid”. The two men bet that a first French victory on English soil in the Tournament since 2005 would help reverse the balance.
With Jalibert and Vakatawa in Twickenham
Stay in the nails of a possible Grand Slam, settle definitively “The Covid episode” and push further an England in bad shape: the sporting objectives are not lacking for the XV of France, Saturday March 13. Fabien Galthié announced Thursday, March 11, the composition of the team called to face the English at Twickenham, and made some adjustments.
🏴⚡️🇫🇷 Our #XVdeFrance is on the Twickenham lawn with the ambition to win! Here are the… https://t.co/gyEJ2goxgW
Seven of the twelve players to have contracted the coronavirus will be holders. Captain Charles Ollivon, Romain Taofifenua, Brice Dulin, Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Mohamed Haouas, and the “star” Antoine Dupont. Alongside the Toulouse scrum half, the French staff favored continuity, aligning again Matthieu Jalibert at the opening, to the detriment of Romain Ntamack, just back from injury.
On the other hand, Virimi Vakatawa, also back from injury (knee), finds his place in the center. His replacement since the start of the Tournament, Arthur Vincent, judged “Contagious until Sunday” found Olympic noon at the beginning of the week, was not summoned. To compensate for the last minute absence of Bernard Le Roux, inexhaustible second line and pillar of the team, injured on Monday, Fabien Galthié favored Romain Taofifenua.
