London (AFP)

If a good tournament of the six nations remains "a won tournament" for Fabien Galthié, the French coach recognized on Wednesday that the rejuvenation of the XV of France also enters into a "medium-term vision" with for horizon the World Cup 2023 in France .

"Indeed, we have a medium-term vision, that is to say four years, but also a short-term vision on the competition that awaits us with this match against England on February 2," explained the coach to London, during the official presentation of the Tournament.

With 19 neophytes, 24 years of average age and less than ten selections on average, "it's a very young team in terms of age and international experience," admitted Galthié.

But that does not mean that France considers itself in transition and the present, far from being sacrificed, must serve as a springboard for the future.

We have "a group that wants to be both fast performing and also capable of developing up over time", detailed Galthié, who would almost be delighted to start with a Crunch against the vice world champions at Stade de France.

- "Very high standards of requirement" -

"The good thing is that it immediately projects us to very high standards in terms of requirement and ability to match with a team of this standing. For players who arrive, they immediately switch to competition ", he said.

The new captain Charles Ollivon does not expect in any case that the serious concerns of the Saracens, main providers of the XV de la Rose but relegated at the end of the season for exceeding the salary ceiling, affect their future opponent.

"The English today are two of the best teams in the world, so I don't know if there is a better time to face them," he said.

The third line has entered its role of captain smoothly, in Nice, where the French team has been preparing for two days.

"There is a good part of the group with whom we were at the World Cup, there are some benchmarks", he explained, now saying that he wanted to "enter the competition", which resonates in their head since the end of the World Cup in Japan.

© 2020 AFP