At the end of the first week of preparation for the November tour, Performance Director Nicolas Jeanjean ensures that he has found a homogeneous state of fitness within the French group. However, he emphasizes that some players have already played a lot this season…
Can you give us any news about Nolann Le Garrec?
I don't have one yet. He suffered a shock on his knee during training on Friday. We weren't very worried. He was walking, everything was fine. We even almost allowed him to participate in training this morning (Saturday). But we preferred not to take any risks and check the condition of the bruise.
Overall, in what state of physical freshness did you find the players?
That's the whole problem with this preparatory week without a match. The idea is to find a balance in the fitness of our players. Some players have already “matched” a lot, with eight Top 14 matches, which is a fairly significant load. This week therefore allowed us to individualize the collective load in order to relieve certain players who had accumulated a lot of playing time. And conversely to overexpose other players who needed it. It was truly an intense week of development. We used it to work but also to regenerate.
Is the state of form homogeneous or are there significant disparities?
Overall, it's pretty consistent. This is often the case at this time of the season. The Players had a good pre-season. The aim is to let the players recover during this phase so that they arrive in November in optimal shape.
How could the players' state of form have influenced the choices made by Fabien Galthié's staff regarding the players designated to join their clubs last Wednesday?
The choice is multifactorial. There is obviously their state of form, but also the parameter of their exposure on the field. These choices may or may not be repeated. It is a freedom that we have in this list of 42 players to oscillate between different aspects of these choices to maintain a fairly strong collective emulation.
What was the focus of the week?
We put a big focus on work intensities. The terminology is broad, but overall in rugby we exploit 80 to 85% of the players' potential in acceleration or speed. Our objective is to increase this percentage to exploit flashes, spaces that we seek to find on the ground. We therefore seek to raise the slider as high as possible. We have training methodologies to get there. This has really been a guideline since the beginning of the gathering. And it will be throughout this tour.
Last season was particularly long. Do you think that there are still traces of fatigue linked to this overload?
It all depends on the profiles. But our methodology, which consists of leaving as much rest time as possible to have a real pre-season and to be in the best possible shape, is bearing fruit. The players arrived in good shape, with a little disparity linked to their more or less playing time.
Does Antoine Dupont, given his particular season, benefit from special treatment?
Antoine had different treatment. Until then, he was on the French 7 team project. Since then, he has returned to fifteen with his club. He matched. Quietly, he returns to his usual workload. Since then, it has been in continuity. Since his arrival, we have not adapted his training to his profile at all.
Is there any hope of soon seeing players like Uini Atonio or others who were unable to be with you this week of preparation?
We work in conjunction with the clubs. Some players are available, others are not suitable because they still have ongoing pathologies. There is real follow-up work. We have a more or less precise temporality depending on the pathologies. But I can't say exactly which players will be available.
Who are the players who surprised you in this first week?
We are lucky to have the best players, rugby-wise and physically. International rugby has an important physical aspect. The slightest weakness is quickly identified and becomes a weakness for the team. The players who are therefore selected are at the level. They have just had a week that resembles a pre-season. It had been a while since they had such a heavy workload. During the last minute of practice this morning (Saturday), they were a little tired. But it was necessary. And we saw players who expressed themselves perfectly, who knew how to find interesting rugby situations, even when tired. It was really interesting.
