London (AFP)

The cruel defeat in England (23-20), Saturday in London during the Six Nations Tournament, remains "a match that makes you grow", said the coach of the XV of France Fabien Galthié, believing that his team "is still learning" .

Q: How hot do you feel, the pride of having played a good game or the disappointment of losing in the last five minutes?

A: "Both. I think the team delivered a great game and then you have to digest the outcome. The game is played once again in the last minutes. You can be proud of the players, proud of their solidarity. It's a game that we wanted to win and we felt we could win it. There are two or three key moments that we could have perhaps finished a little more comfortably even if at the end there is a series of penalties that keep us going backwards and (moments) when they take the ball away from us. We learn, the team learns. We learn. "

Q: Did you miss the experience to kill this match?

A: "We have the possibility of building the match differently, especially at the end of the first half, where we have a very good ball, very well carried and we are penalized two meters from the line. a ball with which we have to enter the in-goal. It's a shame. If we score just before half-time ... Obviously with ifs ... Usually in the occupation zone we are more efficient but there we left energy and points too. We could have gone out faster. And the end of the match of course where we are too penalized. Penalties made us retreat and gave free balls to the English . They knew how to use these balls until the + pick and go + Itoje. There was not a lot of rhythm in the second half. As much the first half was very rhythmic, very intense, as the second half -Time was more choppy. They managed to get the victory so they finished the game better than us. I think we got a little intoxicated.

energy and points. "

Q: Does this defeat hurt more than the one in Scotland last year?

A: "It's very different. In Scotland, it's a game where we play fourteen out of 50 minutes. We ended up far from the Scots. In this match, we are ahead until 3 or 4 minutes from the There is this very different taste for defeat. In the construction, the experience, the collective experience, it's different. But that's one of the matches that you have to go through of course. matches to win them, you have to experience these matches as best as possible, especially to use them to progress.This is our twelfth game (since Galthié took office at the end of 2019), the third away since the start of the Tournament. . We have to digest this result together and switch to the game against Wales. This game begins now. "

Interview during a videoconference press conference

© 2021 AFP