Fabien Galthie’s second album syndrome: Can France back up impressive 2020?
MY WAY: Fabien Galthie faces into his second year with a bright young squad of players willing to play his way.
In little more than a year — 18 months if you include the ‘soft opening’ of his term at the World Cup in Japan — Fabien Galthie has recreated the France senior men’s national side in his image.
He drew a definitive line in the sand straight away, selecting 19 uncapped players in his first extended squad for the 2020 Six Nations opener against England, effectively casting Yoann Huget, Maxime Medard, Rabah Slimani, Wen Lauret, Maxime Machenaud, Sofiane Guitoune, and Camille Lopez into international retirement, whether they were ready to go or not.
Nine matches, all against Six Nations’ opposition, and seven wins later, Galthie now enters his ‘difficult’ second year in charge of France.
The question is, how hard it will be. The schedule looks tough. There is a three-Test tour of Australia scheduled for July, followed by Argentina and New Zealand plus one more on the end-of-year internationals’ docket to follow the 2021 Six Nations.
Then there’s those heightened expectations. The surprise that was effervescent French rugby last year, following its years in the doldrums is a surprise no more. Opposition coaches and players know what’s coming, and will have ideas to counter it.
On the sidelines, after a cautious, dare-we-hope welcome to the new regime at the beginning of last year — French rugby media and fans have now gone all-in. Meanwhile, a new reputation is preceding France abroad. The Irish, English, Welsh, Scottish and Italian press won’t be fooled by perceived inexperience again.
Thirdly, there’s the Six Nations timetable itself, which isn’t as friendly as it was last year. After an opening weekend in Rome, France face Ireland in Dublin. Then, after welcoming Scotland to Paris, they are on the road again — this time to London — before hosting Wales in the final round of the tournament. Three of five matches away. The Aviva and Twickenham are ferociously difficult places to play, and will be even without a crowd.
France have not won in Dublin since 2011, or London since 2007.
The expectation, this year, is that they will end at least one of those losing streaks. But that’s a tough ask. Even amid the understandable hype surrounding Les Bleus right now, they remain a side in development.
The coach’s declared tournament ambitions follow the script he wrote when he took charge — to win every game. “Our goal is to win matches and titles,” he told reporters at the press launch of the tournament.
“It is an immediate and permanent objective.
“At each meeting, we have the same objective: to win the match ahead of us, then to win the series of matches in front of us … We are very motivated. Every match is important to our team.” Galthie counts his four-year contract in terms of matches to play. He and his staff are tied-in to France until the end of the 2023 World Cup — or about 37 matches away, assuming a full quota of internationals between now and then and a run to the final.
The progression, he insists, must be consistently upwards. There is, he says repeatedly, surprisingly little time to waste.
And then there’s his selection policy. After the jaw-drop that was Galthie’s first selection as head coach of France in 2020, his selections have been — as much as possible — consistent. With good reason - who tinkers with a winning formula? So, there were no surprises in his initial training camp call-ups for this year’s Six Nations.
He brought in three uncapped players — fleet-footed backs Donovan Taofifenua, Julien Delbouis and promising prop Georges-Henri Colombe — but the list was pretty much as expected. Taofifenua and Delbouis have been released back to their clubs — Racing 92 and Stade Francais, while Colombe made the 31 but was not in the matchday squad to face Italy.
But player fitness is among Galthie’s immediately pressing second-season problems, and something he really did not have to deal with in an astonishingly fortunate first year.
Heading into this weekend’s Six Nations’ opener in Rome, he has more injuries among first-choice players to cover than he had in the whole of 2020. He was, for example, able to select the same 2-8-9-10-15 spine for the entire Six Nations, though Romain Ntamack would have been unavailable if France had faced Ireland in March rather than October.
This year, he is without the services of Virimi Vakatawa for the entire tournament. A broken jaw initially ruled out Ntamack for the games against Italy and Ireland. Demba Bamba, Camille Chat, Thomas Ramos, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Uini Atonio, Francois Cros, Swan Rebbadj and Thierry Paiva have been among those who withdrew with injury.
A positive Covid-19 test ruled out lock Thomas Lavault before he could even join the squad as replacement for Rebbadj. Third-choice scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud is out, too, replaced by Sebastien Bezy.
And the health situation then affected training plans further. The 37 call-ups plus five training partners were cut in an agreement between the FFR and LNR to a fixed squad of 31 for the entire tournament to reduce the size of the health bubble. Only injury replacements are now able to join the team. There will otherwise be no back-and-forth between camp and club.
But it does throw off Galthie’s preferred training system. We’ll get an idea of how Les Bleus have adapted when we see them in Rome.
What we do know is that, once upon a time, not so very long ago, so many injuries ahead of a Six Nations would have led to panic. No more. The problem Galthie faces is not the desperate search for a stop-gap replacement because of a shortage of legitimate options — but that he has so many playing riches.
The player-release row that dogged France in the lead-up to the extended autumn international window ended up revealing the strength in depth at Galthie’s disposal.
Anthony Jelonch is not a natural-born eight and only rarely played there for his club, Castres Olympique, before this season, but provided full-bore Autumn Nations Cup cover for Gregory Alldritt, in what looked a difficult position for Les Bleus. Selevasio Tolofua, after impressing with Toulouse, is another keeping the fit-again Alldritt honest.
Another first-class autumn performance came from fullback Brice Dulin on his return to national side colours after several years in the wilderness. It has proved a slice of good fortune for France, with Ramos injured and last year’s surprise package Anthony Bouthier out of form and playing out of position in an out-of-sorts Montpellier.
Not that the loyal Galthie necessarily pays too much attention to club form. Teddy Thomas had lost his place at Racing 92 when he was called up to the France squad for the autumn matches — and impressed enough in training to make the team.
Galthie’s loyalty to his players may be good news for captain Charles Ollivon. He will start in Rome as part of a familiar backrow, but there has been concern in the French press that the backrow’s current form for Toulon after his return from injury.
This is Galthie’s ‘difficult second year’, then. A schedule to be wary of, coronavirus-hit preparations and some concerns over form and fitness. That’s pretty standard fare. On the plus side, he’s got a bright young squad of players willing to play his way, with a desire to win and a goal in mind. For France, that had been missing for too long. It’s good to see it back.
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