Now or never for France and Galthie's 'grand projet'

DO OR DIE: France head coach Fabien Galthie. Pic: ©INPHO/Dave Winter

The main press conference room at Roland Garros is far too small for this. Literally and figuratively. 

Reporters and cameramen are spilling out into the hallway, bags are piling up along the walls and an air of expectancy fills the room as Fabien Galthié and Antoine Dupont take to the main stage.

It’s a scene that speaks for the country at large as France braces for a quarter-final against the Springboks that stands as a sort of bottleneck for their hopes and dreams. Squeeze beyond this and it’s hard not to see Les Bleus career into the wide-open plains of a meeting against England or Fiji and on to the decider.

To borrow a phrase from this country’s most famous resident Irishman, c’est énorme.

The road here is worth retreading. France had just finished fourth in the Six Nations when Fabien Galthié was confirmed as their new coach after the 2019 tournament. They were ranked eighth in the world going to Japan and left again after a last-eight defeat to Wales having left little or no impression.

And now this. The rebuild and renewal have been equal parts thorough and effective. The national team has been resuscitated, its stock rising almost year on year, but that comes with pressure. France beat New Zealand in their first pool game but they started slowly and the head coach admitted at the time that the weight of the occasion had gotten to them.

And that was only a soft opening. This is the big reveal.

There will never be another moment like this. Sixteen years separate this running and the event’s last hosting on this same soil and who is to say that the stars will align in anything like the same way in 2039, or whenever the World Cup’s orbit takes it back here? The notion of glory – la gloire – is baked into this country’s psyche. Now’s their chance.

“We’re always nervous before this kind of match,” said Galthié. “It would be a lie to say there’s no tension. That’s what makes these moments so special. We try to make the most of these moments, live them well together, and move towards this rendezvous with pleasure, joy, happiness and determination.” 

Pleasure. An interesting choice of word with the Boks next door.

The return of Dupont, who will wear a scrum cap on medical advice, from the facial injury sustained in the pool stages certainly makes everyone breathe much easier. Julien Marchand aside, the hosts have the hand they always wanted to play and they have already made a move of sorts with a 6-2 split on the bench.

GOOD AS NEW: France's Antoine Dupont during a training session at the Stade de France. Pic: Adam Davy/PA Wire.

The Springboks named a 6-2 against Scotland and a 7-1 for the Ireland game, but they revert to a more classical 5-3 which, Jacques Nienaber pointed out, was the breakdown on the bench when they clinched the series against the British and Irish Lions in 2021.

Handré Pollard, Willie Le Roux and Faf de Klerk are all available to offer some game-breaking capabilities from the ranks of the reserves but the selections of Cobus Reinach at nine and Duane Vermeulen at No.8 were talking points worthy of similar air space. All of which amounts to a game within a game.

Galthié, who once spent two weeks with Rassie Erasmus and Nienaber at Munster where he sat in on team meetings and shared the odd beer, likened this pre-match selection stuff to a chess match but he didn’t go along with the argument that the Springbok tweaks showed undue deference towards his own team.

“They always adapt,” he said, emphasising that the Boks have had two weeks to plot this course. “They always proclaim it, loudly, that they will do that. I spent time with their coaches at Munster and it is not by chance that they perform. We are in a world of strategy and tactics at the moment and this is not a bad thing for us.” 

France retain the ability to carve sides open with electric back play but this is a side that is comfortable without the ball and one that kicks a fair percentage of its ball. It allies all this with an enormous body of men. They aren’t all that different, in that sense, to South Africa who retain faith in Manie Libbok at ten despite Pollard’s availability and kicking chops.

Rugby is in a difficult place in this era of health and safety and concussion awareness but it's hard to avoid the realities of what is to come. Words like ‘brutal’ and ‘pain’ have been sprinkled throughout the build-up on both sides and Toulon back row Charles Ollivon laid it especially bare.

“Violent is the right word. We know the South African style. They’re well prepared to make a physical mark on their opponents. They’ll stay true to themselves. If I know Eben [Etzebeth, his Toulon clubmate], when he comes onto the pitch it’s not to talk. Once they’re in the game, they just keep rolling out the steamroller.

“They’re not going to change. We’ll be ready.” 

When France beat New Zealand in Saint-Denis 23 months ago it was their first win over the All Blacks in 12 years. The Six Nations title they claimed the following spring? Their first in 12 years. The defeat of the Springboks in Marseille last November? Another 12-year span bridged. The last time they made a World Cup final? Twelve years ago.

Maybe this is their time.