He will not have needed to pronounce " Open Sesame " for the door to open. After two months of negotiations between the National Rugby League (LNR) and the French Rugby Federation (FFR), Fabien Galthié won his case. It is well surrounded by forty-two strong fellows that the new coach of the XV of France will begin his mandate. Forty-two, "The answer to the big question about life, the Universe and the rest" – according to The Galactic Traveller's Guide, by Douglas Adams -, but above all the remedy diagnosed by Galthié and his staff to treat the ills of the Blues. In a joint press release, the LNR and the FFR announced, Tuesday, January 31, that they had validated the provision of forty-two players by gathering, against thirty-one previously, after the agreement of the Top 14 clubs, providers of the players .
"This agreement marks the total support of clubs for the French team project as it is carried by Fabien Galthié", greets Paul Goze, president of the League, in the press release. As required by Galthié, forty-two players will join the XV of France at each rally, the coach pledging to release fourteen at the end of each match week of the Six Nations Tournament, Thursday afternoon. Fourteen players not selected in blue, but able to compete in the championship with their club. And who should join their team without having "Désentraînés", which the Top 14 coaches criticized the previous coaching of the Blues.
Because the number forty-two does not leave the immensity of the Universe, displease Mourad Boudjellal, the president of the Toulon Rugby club, who had ironically "The formal statistics of the astrophysicists of the federation and the French team". To train his new team and instill in it the style he wants, in particular with the opposition of fifteen against fifteen, Fabien Galthié – and his acolyte Raphaël Ibañez, general manager of the Blues, who worked hard to convince the clubs – estimated at a dozen the number of players reduced by minor injuries or in poor shape during each gathering, hence the demand of the forty-two players. Like the Anglo-Saxon nations, Fabien Galthié wants to have a larger group in order to improve training, and allow his group to reach the set objectives: to win games and competitions quickly.
Provisional agreement for this year to renegotiate
Announced a week before the release of the first list to prepare for the Tournament (which will start with a "crunch" against England, February 2, at the Stade de France), the rider to the agreement between the League and the Federation remains provisional, only valid for this competition. "Discussions will continue in the coming weeks to consolidate this new method of organization for the next three seasons and the 2023 World Cup, continues Paul Goze. With the common goal of finalizing these discussions for the month of June. "
This agreement provides for clubs to share in the performance of the XV of France, in proportion to their results. Suggestion from Bernard Laporte, when neither the Federation nor the League wanted to take a penny from their pocket to finance the group's expansion (estimated around an additional million euros), initially rejected by the clubs, the measure been accepted on Monday: Toulouse, Clermont, Toulon and the other international supplier clubs will receive part of the revenue generated by the results of the Blues during the Tournament. A solution, "Keystone of the agreement", according to the president of the FFR, who builds on the success of the XV of France version Fabien Galthié.
For their part, the players – through their union, Provale – also agreed to make an effort, by splitting their leave over the two weeks of rest of the Tournament, in February, in order to save their clubs and the federation .
Aware of benefiting from "The state of grace" new arrivals on the blue bench, Fabien Galthié knows he is expected, after all the players in French rugby have acceded to his wishes. But the new French coach will not have to make a wish during the New Year: his main request has already been granted. It now remains to make its forty-two players a winning French team.
