Guillaume Issner, Media365, published on Wednesday December 25, 2024 at 10:16 p.m.
The year 2024 was an opportunity for the French XV to bounce back after its elimination in the quarter-finals of the World Cup last year. A goal accomplished for the Blues of Fabien Galthié.
A year following a World Cup is important, especially for a selection whose result at the said event was not up to par. This is the case of the French XV, beaten by South Africa (28-29) in the quarter-finals of its World Cup. This sad evening of October 15, 2023, however, is now only a distant memory, even if some players may have difficulty coming back to the final outcome. In 2024, the France group reacted well on the ground. We had to respond from the start of the year in the 6 Nations Tournament. A slightly more difficult objective when you have to do without Antoine Dupontthen eager to acclimatize to the rugby 7s environment that he would encounter at the Paris Games the following summer and which would see him become Olympic champion. However, the Blues looked great in this Tournament by grabbing second place, the fault of an opening defeat against Ireland (17-38) and a damaging draw against Italy (23-23).
A founding fall tour
Behind, Fabien Galthié's men came out of a mixed summer tour in Argentina where they won a first match (13-28) against the Pumas in July before kneeling on the ground a few days later (defeat 25 -13). But here it is, the French players still had something under their belt and pulled out all the stops at the Stade de France in November as part of the fall tour. Japan did not resist the Blues (52-12) unlike New Zealand who finally lost narrowly (30-29) after a high-flying first period. Finally, Argentina could only bow on November 22 (37-23). Building on their seven successes out of ten matches played in 2024, Thomas Ramos and his teammates have a positive balance sheet at the end of the World Cup. Enough to reassure Fabien Galthié who made the recent autumn tour a first preparation for the next World Cup, on Australian soil in 2027. 2024 is ending but 2025 is already arriving very quickly. Louis Bielle-Biarrey and his teammates will host Wales on January 31 at the opening of the 6 Nations Tournament.
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