Obviously reassuring and attractive with a view to densifying the French midfield, this association must still find more common benchmarks to gain strength.
It was a Sunday question, the day after the prestigious victory against the All Blacks: which pair of crosses against Argentina, at the end of the autumn? After the reduction of Yoram Moefana's sanction, which made him eligible for the reception of Japan, he was directly propelled into the starting position alongside… Émilien Gailleton, causing the downgrading of Gaël Fickou. Never during the Galthié era had the latter taken a place on the bench before that day. Le Palois was to his advantage, even scoring his first international try, but it was Fickou who wore number 13 against New Zealand.
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Because his experience and his profile obviously make him very reassuring in major meetings. Proving in passing that, if he perhaps no longer has the totem of immunity, he remains the boss of the midfield (at least in the absence of Nicolas Depoortere whose development we will have to closely monitor return from injury). “I feel good, I have a lot of energy and I am at the service of the team”he then said. The other lesson? Jonathan Danty out of the race or almost, Moefana emerges as the preferred solution in the first center position. There is also a form of logic given his power and his room for improvement in the ability to make people play around him. Clearly, this duo provides obvious guarantees, particularly defensively, on the big stage.
Galthié satisfied with the association
The problem? The fact is that the association still left many observers hungry last Saturday. To be more precise, if Fickou delivered a very solid score and recalled his service record at this level, Moefana appeared more in difficulty, with six missed tackles (out of eleven attempted) and only three meters gained. Which echoes his already mixed performance against the same opponents, the last time he was associated with the Racingman in the center, in the opening match of the World Cup, when his suicidal rise to the point had cost a try of 'entrance.
How to explain it? The connection must today be refined between the two men so that Moefana finds the same complementarity with Fickou as with Depoortere at UBB and plays more liberated. Asked if he was satisfied with his duo, Galthié was however categorical: “Widely. Opposite, there was the best pair of centers in the world (Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane, editor's note), who has been associated for six months and thirteen matches. For Yoram and Gaël, it was the first association of the year, after three weeks of work. In this context, faced with players who played in the World Cup final together and have – I would say – around thirty matches in common, I say yes. Without a doubt, when we see the difference in collective experience and team preparation.” Everyone will understand better why, from what we know, reappointing Moefana and Fickou has not even been discussed within the management. Hoping that the affinities intensify.
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