Nice (AFP)
First opposition for the Blues of Fabien Galthié, who faced the French military team, in Nice, Saturday, eight days before the start of the Six Nations Tournament. High intensity training almost in real conditions.
The staff of the France team had set the rules in the morning: "We are a little over a week from France-England (February 2, editor's note), the idea is that it is a test day. It's a rehearsal, "explained general manager Raphaël Ibanez, not without reserving a few surprises for these players, notably the fact that they would sometimes go underperform, 14 to 15, even 16 and even 17 opponents.
On the program, more than an hour of opposition "ball in play", that is to say without dead ball: the keys, the melee or the mauls, which can slow down the rhythm, are not necessarily played. As a result, Fabien Galthié distributed the balloons and multiplied the situations while his assistants observed and rectified the errors.
With a special guest since Alexandre Ruiz, international referee present, in particular, at the 2013 World Cup, was at the whistle.
And if the gap was sometimes felt, most of the players of the French military team playing in Federal 1 or Federal 2, "it was intense and tiring," admitted the back of Montpellier Anthony Bouthier.
"They did not give up until the end, they gave everything," he added.
"The goal was to find the intensity of the high level but above all to find a structure of play in the different areas of the field and without losing the thread," said Laurent Labit, in charge of the rear.
"There are physical data that obviously interests us, but we also wanted to see if they can achieve technical and tactical things in fatigue, at very high intensity, at full speed," he also assured.
The XV de France, which takes a day off on Sunday, is gathered in Nice until January 31. The composition of the team that will start the match against the English will be announced on January 30.
© 2020 AFP