Oliva (Spain) (AFP)

The new boss, it's him. Fabien Galthié, appointed assistant coach Jacques Brunel before succeeding him, has already taken over the training of the XV of France, in full preparation for the World Cup (September 20 - November 2).

"Blues, you do not control your side, you do shit." Saturday on the field of Oliva Nova, near Valencia in Spain, as in Monaco two weeks earlier, Galthie gives voice in oppositions and affirms his authority unambiguously.

At the edge of the field, arms behind his back, Brunel is more discreet, like the other deputies, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (three quarters), Sébastien Bruno (forwards), Julien Bonnaire (key) and Laurent Labit (individual technique) The latter having arrived in Galthie's baggage.

If all are active in separate workshops, the collective sessions now seem the meadow of the former scrum half of the Blues (50 years, 64 selections) and Thibault Giroud, his former physical trainer in Toulon that he has also debauched.

However, the French media present at internships have had access to neither one nor the other. Appointed coach at the end of 2017 after the sacking of Guy Novès, Brunel, to whom the president of the Federation Bernard Laporte imposed to surround himself with "new competences" at the end of a very disappointing Six Nations Tournament (4th), wants to show that he keeps control. In Marcoussis, Monaco or Oliva, it is he who speaks in front of the press to praise "the good alchemy" with Galthié and Labit, his former players in Colomiers in the late 1990s.

- "Jacques is further back" -

Called "deputy as another" - in charge of collective animation - at the time of his appointment in early May, Galthie took the place of N.1 on the lawn before succeeding Brunel as coach on his return from Japan. The Gersois keeps his hand on the general organization and the final decisions.

"It's Fabien who takes a pretty good hand on the technical side," said scrum half Antoine Dupont. "Jacques is more down on the field than before," confirms Gaël Fickou. "But outside, it is he who gives all the instructions and Fabien who deals more with the sporting part", adds the center.

How much has this new situation affected the program of the Blues? Six months after the correction received in England (44-8) and the implicit criticisms of Morgan Parra and Camille Lopez against a staff that seemed to sail on sight, all say they know the hardest physical preparation of their career.

Inspired by Eddie Jones' work with the English, with whom they hope to compete physically in the last game of the group stage in Japan, Galthie and Giroud are looking to push the limits of the players. "They want us to put a lot of speed into everything we do," says the hooker Camille Chat, who is like all the others asked to achieve a minimum of 110 m traveled / minute during exhausting sequences of 7 minutes game without interruption.

- "It's more precise" -

But Galthie's contribution is above all technical, and tactical. "I do not know if it's thanks to the new coaches or not, but it's more accurate than the Six Nations, for example," dares Chat, referring to the game project and the Galthie method. "He's a very pragmatic person who knows his role at his fingertips, all of his workouts are accurate, he quickly understands what he wants."

The signature of the former N.9 Bleus: benchmarks printed on the lawn to "know the right distance between us, not to be too deep, too flat, too wide, have the best structure possible" and improve its playing foot, details the opener Anthony Belleau, who had already experienced these tools in Toulon.

To see if it is effective, August 17 in Nice, during the first game of preparation against Scotland.

© 2019 AFP