The Blues coach (almost) ignored the difficulties encountered by his team during the second day of the 6 Nations Tournament.
The Blues were (very) hot in Scotland. A week after the slap received against Ireland at the opening of the 6 Nations Tournament (17-38), the French XV had to react. Thing was done (16-20) in a Murrayfield where a large colony of French people had taken up residence. However, Fabien Galthié’s men suffered, never appearing to be masters of their rugby and capable of shaking up a well-established Scottish team, in the wake of their success in Wales (26-27).
Whatever. In the coach’s eyes, “the content was perfect.” In front of the press, the boss of the Blues did not talk about the difficulties experienced by his team throughout the meeting. “The content, when you win in Scotland with a four-point difference, that suits me,” he simply commented, adding: “given the level of the Scottish team, that suits me. Given the context , it’s perfect.” In a speech that was always very smooth, Fabien Galthié felt that his players “are not there to demonstrate: we are there to win matches.”
If “the content is great”, the coach still briefly mentioned “the problems on winning touch, on high balls.” That’s saying something. Two touches lost on ten throws, balls caught with difficulty or messed up… Once again, the Tricolores did not shine in this sector. As for the kicking game, Matthieu Jalibert was regularly pushed around. Nevertheless, “it is a tremendous victory”, a “great happiness”, a “great joy”.
A speech full of satisfaction despite the difficulties, corroborated by that of the captain, Grégory Alldritt. The third row, out with an injury – not serious: “it’s the skin which is open, a few stitches and we have to let it heal” – estimated that this success in Edinburgh was “one of my most beautiful victories with the XV of France.”