Since his arrival at the head of the Blues, Fabien Galthié has done what he can to hide it, but nothing has worked. Even when observing the character from a little distance, all we see is this: he’s thinking loudly, and all the time, behind these big black glasses. The coach is naturally cerebral, he sometimes gives a glimpse of it when he lets himself be drawn into a press conference in an explanation as interesting as it is convoluted on a sequence coming out of the ruck, the ideal length of a kick facing a particular adversary or the use of data to establish a benchmark on the international experience of one’s team. The Lotois is like this, that’s why we love him or why we find him “heavy”, according to the words of a former coach reported by the colleagues of The Team.
Turning point
For almost four years now, Galthié’s outbursts have accompanied those interested in rugby. More than 30 years, in fact, if we take into account his past as a player, coach and then consultant on France TV, where he already had strong words and strong ideas. But four years, therefore, in this supreme function which he had dreamed of for a long time and which had escaped him three times, that of big boss of the XV of France. A quadrennium which reaches a turning point on Sunday with this World Cup quarter-final against South Africa.
By all accounts, Galthié’s mandate is a clear success. How can we affirm the opposite? The years of Saint-André, Novès and then Brunel had left the Blues in an advanced state of disrepair. The former scrum-half put everything back on track, thanks to a cleverly developed guideline and the talent of an extraordinary generation. He also benefited from colossal financial and human resources, granted by the then president Bernard Laporte, to prepare for this World Cup at home. Results, 31 victories in 39 matches until the opening match, the first grand slam in the Tournament since 2010, dazzling successes against New Zealand and South Africa, and lifelong trauma inflicted on the English at Twickenham .
However, thanks to a draw carried out under Methuselah, France, despite its first place in the group being wrested from the All Blacks, must come up against South Africa in the quarters. The only nation in the world (along with Ireland, which was in the same group as the Boks anyway) against whom these Blues, as impressive as they are, do not start favorites. It’s 50-50, a meeting which will be played piecemeal but which will put into perspective, whether we like it or not, everything that Fabien Galthié has achieved at the head of this team.
“A defeat would be a bitter failure”
“There will be no excuses, given the means, the preparation and the quality of this squad,” says former coach Pierre Berbizier. The French team knew how to create enthusiasm, it took us into this dream, now it is obliged to go to the end otherwise the disappointment will be as high as the hope it has inevitably given rise to. »
The price of glory, if you will, and paradoxically the great drama of Galthié. Because if it were ever to stop on Sunday, even at the end of a tough match lost by a point in the 79th minute, which would be far from being an infamy, the raw reading of the events would be this: France would not do better than in 2015 and 2019. Cruel for the coach, brought to the same level as the humiliation of the century against the Blacks (62-13) and this low-arm elimination (or too high, concerning Vahaamahina) against the Welsh (20-19). “A defeat would be a bitter failure,” recalls Berbizier.
Fabien Galthié knows this well. Perhaps for that reason, too, that he has gradually become more withdrawn since the start of the World Cup, that he no longer goes into as much detail when talking about the game and that he sometimes seems more annoyed. than reason by a question or a ball falling during training. Obviously, his relatives are responsible for mine clearance. “He is not more worried or stressed than usual,” confides one of them in The Team published Thursday. The day before, William Servat launched into a complicated response when discussing the boss’s state of mind at the start of this final phase:
Fabien is like everyone else on the staff, he has evolved greatly since the start of the mandate. Today, we have this incredible event approaching and whether you are a coach or a player, we have spent entire seasons preparing to experience this. Fabien has participated in five World Cups, he has a lot of experience. The final phase brings an extra dose of energy, but there is a lot of calm and stability to prepare for this match. »
If it can reassure him, in any case, the president of the Federation Florian Grill does not make a final victory a prerequisite for any discussion for the future. “It is not up to me to give a sporting objective. The staff and the players are big enough, they have their objective well in mind, there’s no point in me adding anything,” he told us at the start of the competition. His room for maneuver is reduced in any case, with the extension of the coach’s contract until the 2027 World Cup, decided by his predecessor and recorded at the start of the year.
The biggest uncertainty, ultimately, would be how the person concerned would experience elimination if it were to happen. Because victory or not on Sunday, Fabien Galthié seems to have earned the right to honor this extension. We don’t erase four years of progress like that either, not to mention that basically, a Rugby World Cup is just a construction of authorities imposed with a crowbar: winning the VI Nations tournament, in his current adversity, is no less valuable, and it begins in barely three months.
“It’s already been four years, Fabien has been renewed. It is not up to us, outsiders, to judge, believes Pierre Berbizier. Everyone will assume their responsibilities. » Also a former scrum half, finalist of the first World Cup in 1987 before experiencing from the bench the frustrating defeat in the semi-final eight years later, “Berbize” simply wants to believe that we will not have to lead this debate. “For having played there, for having trained it, for having come very close… I am just waiting for that, for this team to be world champions. This is the right opportunity. »