Fabien Galthié, the coach of the XV of France, spoke Thursday for the first time since the postponement of the match against Scotland, after numerous cases of contamination with the coronavirus.

"We respected the health protocol as well as possible", he assured, while these contaminations raised a lively controversy. 

"We respected the health protocol as well as possible" and "zero risk does not exist": Fabien Galthié denied any fault on Thursday concerning "the Covid episode" which affected the XV of France, considering it as "a small break "in the quest for the Six Nations Tournament.

During his first press conference since February 14 and the victory of the Blues in Ireland (15-13), the coach was questioned several times about a possible violation of the health protocol.

Did he feel guilty?

"Absolutely not. All our actions were in compliance with the protocol. They still are. The health protocol protects us but the zero risk does not exist", he replied alongside the manager of the Blues Raphaël Ibanez, during a videoconference.

On the contrary, did he feel exemplary?

"Everything is in the (internal) report, validated by the French Rugby Federation (...) Everything has been validated by the Ministry of Sports. So there is not much to add on this", a swept away the former international scrum half who lives at 51 his second campaign of the Tournament at the helm of the Blues.

"You can hear the criticisms and accept them"

The contaminations of twelve players and four members of the management, including himself, between February 16 and 25, had resulted in the postponement of the match against Scotland, initially scheduled for February 28 at the Stade de France.

The coach was one of the first two positive cases identified by the French Rugby Federation (FFR).

He had been blamed for having left the bubble on February 7, the day after the inaugural success in Italy (50-10), and for having gone to the Jean-Bouin stadium, in Paris, to attend a match of his son who plays in the hope team of Colomiers.

"We remained very connected with the players and the staff during this period and we were of course very well supported by the medical staff (...) It is an opportunity to thank all our supporters, all the people who sent us messages of support, of benevolence, "explained the former coach of Stade Français, Montpellier and Toulon.

"We can hear the criticisms and accept them (...) It's part of our role," he said.