Galthie says win has echoes of French victory over All Blacks
FRANCE coach Fabien Galthie felt last night’s tense victory over Ireland had hallmarks of his side’s stunning autumn win over New Zealand, when they also held off a fightback to clinch victory.
‘When you play that sort of team you have to accept that sometimes we have a weak moment but we have to limit the damage,’ he said.
‘That’s exactly what happened against the All Blacks and that’s what happened again today.
‘But we were able to take control again and have the upper hand in conditions that were physically, psychologically, statistically challenging; like the All Blacks but with a different opponent.
‘One might say we organised ourselves the same way in the last 30 minutes of the match and that is a good thing because we won and that’s very positive.
‘We knew that we had to raise all our game, in all areas, we knew that not everything would work completely but that if we managed to have a good balance in our strategy, we would be competitive. And that’s what happened.’
While France’s superior power proved influential, especially in the first half, Galthie highlighted the defensive plan of Shaun Edwards as being crucial to the victory.
‘We needed more than our physicality to stop them, our defensive organisation was good, especially in the first period, in particular a good job from Antoine Dupont. And then we hit the ball carrier.
‘In the second half, I think we got a little loose, we were less strong in collisions, we got into trouble in the rucks. We deviated from our defensive plans at the start of the second half, perhaps a little complacent after the very good first half.
‘This team is building through its performances. The players have a strong character, a conviction, an ambition. This group is guided by pride. There is a very strong collective dimension that allows us to get through the difficult times on the pitch. No player feels in trouble when he makes a mistake. There is a mission, a project that removes this feeling of pressure.’
France benefited from a stunning display by Gabin Villiere and his coach was quick to praise the winger for his attitude since coming into the team.
‘We had asked for a big commitment and yesterday (Friday), when we put on the jerseys, Villiere spoke up and said, “I’m going to be there, you’ll see, the war, I’m going to animate it.” He backed up his words with actions, he makes promises to his friends and he simply keeps them,’ said Galthie, who believes beating a team of Ireland’s quality will stand to France as they seek a first Six Nations title since 2010.
‘We prepared with six forwards to take over early in the game. We had asked for a big commitment from the front five who were starting, with another to take over. It was well done. This tactical option of the bench with six forwards has produced positive, very positive effects twice.
‘We’ll savour this for a bit. We have a break before the game in Scotland (February 26). We want to spend time together after three weeks of solid and dense preparation. This victory, it will do us a lot of good, it rewards the players and all the staff behind it.’
Scrum-half and captain Antoine Dupont was equally positive but stressed that the team would not get ahead of themselves with talk of Grand Slams.
‘We managed a complete match, even if we had a small slump at the start of the second period. Without that, we could have had a slightly quieter end to the game. But hey, we are still satisfied with the display.
‘The objective was to go strong and slow down their ruck ball, which we did very well in the first period, a little less in the second, perhaps because they opened up more or because we got carried away.
‘We have all learned from the last two games. So we are not going to talk about Grand Slam for the moment.
‘We will focus on the next match, we know the challenge that awaits us, we know this Scottish team well, hoping that we will have something nice to play in a month.’