XV of France – “Fabien Galthié put himself in danger”: the chronicle of Richard Dourthe after the successful autumn tour of the Blues

I have not always been kind to Fabien Galthié. I didn't always like his way of doing things and communicating. I don't regret anything I said or wrote on this subject. However, today I want to say bravo to the national coach. He put himself in danger by offering the position of opener to Thomas Ramos when the vox populi asked him to start Matthieu Jalibert, in Olympic form or just like, with the Union Bordeaux-Bègles. He put himself in danger by placing Gaël Fickou on the bench, as well as by simply removing Charles Ollivon and Gregory Alldritt from the match sheet. At the moment of doing the accounts, the verdict is nevertheless unanimous and proves the sporting boss of the Blues right: Ramos knew how to establish himself as a great international opener, Fickou was more biting than ever against Argentina when Ollivon, logically upset by his sidelining, returned from the devil Vauvert to sign one last major performance.

In plain language? Neither privilege nor privilege: in a few weeks, Fabien Galthié was able to recreate a France group where we struggle, we scrap and we fight for our place. He also agreed to anticipate an inexorable divorce with Jalibert to put the institution back at the center of everything. Because don't make me believe that Ramos prefers to play fly-half than full-back, that's not true. Don't tell me, either, that Alexandre Roumat is delighted when he enters the cage rather than in the third row. But whatever they think deep down, the players comply with the coach's wishes because they understand that ultimately, their relative sacrifice will benefit the France group as a whole. At the end of the day, when a team defends like this French XV has been doing for three games, it's good that something powerful is happening there and that Fabien Galthié has largely contributed to building.

“LBB” is fragile, timid

If you allow me, I would now like to take advantage of what space I have left in this column to highlight two players who made a big impression on me during the fall tour: Louis Bielle-Biarrey and, even if you tell me that I'm obsessed, Thomas Ramos. The Gironde winger, first of all, has progressed spectacularly in recent months and if I still found him a little tender during the last World Cup, he has since exploded all the prejudices persisting against him: obviously , “LBB” is neither fragile, nor shy, nor a bad defender and, the day Damian Penaud returns from convalescence, the French XV will then be better than anyone else on the outside. Ramos? I was a scorer in the distant past. I even still have a few records to my credit, in the Top 14. And the way Thomas Ramos stumbles has impressed me: he loves exercise, you can see it, you can feel it; he hits the goals as he would to thank his teammates or to please the people in the stadium. This positive pressure transcends him and nine times out of ten, he transforms it into points. Hats off, the artist…