The weather was mild in Marcoussis -

WP / 20 Minutes

“Finally open sport!

“With the approach of the training of the XV of France open to the press, this Tuesday, some of our colleagues did not hide their joy at the idea of ​​covering IRL sport.

It is true that we sulked a bit at the beginning, looking at the schedule for the day: training at 6 p.m., press briefing an hour and a half later.

The time to write, to return to the Paname side, that necessarily puts you at odds with the curfew.

But we have to admit that, all in all, it feels good to reconnect with reality.

The weather - 20 good degrees in Marcoussis in the afternoon - made the reunion with Raphaël Ibañez all the more pleasant, author of a pre-session brief with small onions to explain to the college of journalists what sauce men have by Fabien Galthié were going to be cooked, supporting statistics table.

Basically, “high intensity with the aim of getting back into competition mode” before the friendly against Wales this weekend and the “final” of the 6 Nations tournament against the Irish a week later.

In shape

While attending a press conference, Laurent Labit, Karim Ghezal and William Servat expressed their satisfaction with the state of form observed during Tuesday's session.

"There are players who have made the finals, the finals of European championships, we see that the players are working well", rejoices Ghezal, explaining at the same time why, unlike last winter, we would not see a plethora very high intensity sessions.

Especially since it is necessary to quickly switch to the specific preparation for the match against the Welsh that Labit knows in advance "revenge" and whose additional week of training could cause problems for the XV of France.

The group lives well

Suffice to say that the question of the maximum three match sheets per player, the result of an agreement on the gong between the FFR and the LNR does not give the impression of being a problem in the immediate future.

Gregory Alldritt: “We already have two big games ahead of us this weekend and next weekend.

The whole team wants to make a big impact on this end of the tournament.

We already have the lead in these two games and they are already tough enough like that.

"

The # France7 and #XVdeFrance players are training together today!

Intensity and preparation are on the program!

pic.twitter.com/JGlqEP310n

- France Rugby (@FranceRugby) October 21, 2020

Head to the reunion too.

The group lived well during the tournament, and nothing has changed, we swear both in the staff and among the players.

“As Laurent, philosopher Ghezal said, we have the impression that we left the players last week and that the last match against Scotland [penultimate match of the Tournament, on March 8] was also played last week.

"

Alldritt agrees.

“It feels like it was yesterday, yes.

There is the same weather as during the tournament.

It's nice to find everyone to see the same atmosphere.

This atmosphere we had at the tournament and the group that was at the tournament were not lost.

Now we have to find the same sporting dynamics as at the start of the year.

Sport

XV of France: All the matches of the Blues will be played behind closed doors

  • Sport

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  • Fabien Galthie

  • XV of France

  • Wales