To compose the French team which will challenge New Zealand next Saturday, Blues coach Fabien Galthié will have some important choices to make. Should he particularly favor collective experience as he did for a long time during his first mandate or should he give a large place to the policy of the fit man as he orchestrated to compose the team of the first test against Japan? Elements of response…
During his first term, Fabien Galthié was often described as ultra-conservative. A proven fact in his choices. Regardless of the performance, he never stopped supporting and accompanying his players who, often, repaid him well. Last Thursday, in the Marcoussis auditorium, the coach made a slight strategic shift. “This first composition is the team that seems to us to be in the best shape at the moment, he commented to explain the absence of certain executives like Charles Ollivon, Jonathan Danty or Gaël Fickou, the latter placed on the substitutes' bench. The notion of experience is important, but above all there is emulation, players who push, competition to enter the XV of France or the 23.” And to add: “we can talk about a French group which is starting on an expanded basis […] it creates emulation with the players with whom we traveled for five seasons. Players we count on, watch out! There is a rotation, a healthy emulation but clearly, having interacted with these players concerned by these five years spent together, even if they are finishers, even if they are not on the scoresheet, we are counting on them .”
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The match against Japan in the form of a team gallop past, how will Fabien Galthié and his staff manage the next deadline? “Blacks are not Japan”quipped our consultant Xavier Garbajosa in the columns of Midi Olympique this Monday. We must therefore wonder about the composition of the team to challenge New Zealand, which has just successively beaten England (24-22) and Ireland (23-13). Will Galthié continue what looks like reconstruction work with a view to the 2027 World Cup? Facing Japan, for the first time in the Galthié era, Gaël Fickou did not start a match. The pair of experimental centers composed of Yoram Moefana and Émilien Gailleton were generally satisfactory. However, the staff could be tempted to reinstate one of their executives to challenge the black mountain. Internally, the Racingman's experience is considered valuable. “We must also manage the imperatives of collective experience, of common experience, Galthié said last Thursday during a very rich press conference. And that matters a lot in our team composition…” To be checked.
Any changes other than injury?
In the privacy of the staff, the composition of the third line also raises questions. It is said that the performance of Grégory Alldritt, one of the French executives, was not necessarily convincing, despite his status as the best tackler of the match. Does the temptation to replace Alexandre Roumat in the third center line position to make room for Paul Boudehent, author of a resounding debut against Japan, really exist? The discussion seems real. But, for Fabien Galthié, it would also be, politically, a complex choice to make, far from his ideals applied between 2019 and 2023.
Until then, Galthié did not like the changes from one match to another. Collective experience was his credo, modifications between two matches were on the margins, often guided by injuries. Has he also decided to renovate the way he operates? If this were to be the case, the question of starting full-back Léo Barré for a sixth consecutive time to face the Blacks could arise. The temptation Romain Buros, who is riding an extremely positive dynamic with his club UBB, exists. Will Galthié take the step of launching the Bordeaux player, for a first selection, against New Zealand? Nothing is less certain.
Tatafu or Dove on the bench?
On the other hand, it seems certain that Uini Atonio will start the match if his medical condition allows it. The right pillar of the Blues, absent against Japan due to a sore calf, spent last week in Marcoussis where he trained on the sidelines of the group. A choice will then have to be made between Tevita Tatafu and Georges-Henri Colombe for a place on the bench.
Last Saturday's meeting also left some traces. Winger Théo Attissogbe was hit in the left knee (internal lateral ligament). The Palois, released in the 73rd minute, is forfeited. Damian Penaud, ill and a last-minute withdrawal, should be back on his feet on Saturday. As for Thibaud Flament, who left the SDF pitch in the 33rd minute of play, the second row suffers from his iliac crest (pelvis). His medical examinations reassured the staff. His participation in next Saturday's test is, for the moment, not called into question, the evolution of his pain is simply monitored. The first collective training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday will allow us to find out more about Fabien Galthié's intentions.
