Galthie looking for mix of renewal and continuity

Six Nations team-by-team previews: France 

James Harrington anticipates an Era of Expectation from the side who stalled at the World Cup

Fracncehead coach Fabien Galthie and new captain Gregory Alldritt fulfilled their Six Nations media launch duties by video conference, as did England skipper Jamie George, after Storm Isha stopped them all travelling to Dublin.

In truth, they probably weren’t disappointed to trade a day of interviews and media flesh-pressing at the Guinness Storehouse for a shorter stint in front of a computer at Marcoussis, before getting back to the important prep work.

Press questions inevitably focused on who isn’t in the France squad: no Antoine Dupont – no, it’s no surprise, Galthie said, his sevens ‘sabbatical’ had long been on the cards. Yes, France will miss Anthony Jelonch, who ruptured knee ligaments in Toulouse‘s Champions Cup win over Bath, and will be out for the better part of a year.

Meanwhile, Pierre Bourgarit, Thibaud Flament, Silipi Falatea, and Jean-Baptiste Gros are injured. So is Emmanuel Meafou, who likely would have started against Ireland. Paul Willemse, initially ignored, has been called up to replace him, and wore a starters’ blue bib in early training sessions this week, scrumming down alongside another returnee, Paul Gabrillagues, in a beefed-up specialist lock pairing.

But enough on who’s not there, through injury or commitments. Galthie, below, isn’t working with what he doesn’t have. And what he does have is different to what he did have. This is week one of a new era – we just don’t necessarily recognise it yet.

It would be inaccurate to say Galthie’s long honeymoon is over, despite the teeth-gnashing from the country’s rugby media the morning after the World Cup quarter-final defeat the night before. On the whole, the French public are still very much in love with Galthie and his project, for all the disappointment.

With good reason. In the four-year Galthie-era, Les Bleus’ win rate is 80 per cent, an improvement that’s not so much marked as out of sight compared to the previous decade or so. But, familiarity has bred …expectation. There’s a legitimate argument that the front-loading of France’s World Cup campaign – a ridiculous amount of attention was focused on beating New Zealand first-up, to the detriment of the remainder of the pool phase – was the biggest error Galthie made last year.

France, as a rugby nation riding a tide of over-optimism, expected more then. Despite October’s harsh Springbok reality check, they continue to expect more. Their first demand – an immediate reaction when the Six Nations kicks off in Marseille.

In many ways, it’s a shame that what promises to be the match of the tournament, in which the side ranked fourth in World Rugby’s men’s rankings hosts the one ranked second, kicks off the competition.

The winner at Stade Velodrome will be strongly fancied for the Championship, and a five from five record.

More of the same from the past couple of years, then?

No. There are numerous changes to everything, almost everywhere, all at once.

First, logistics. Stade de France is out of action, because of the Olympic Games in August. So, Les Bleus are on the road – after Ireland in Marseille, they host Italy in Lille, and England in Lyon.

It’s sold as A Good Thing: taking the game to the people. But, as well as a financial hit of playing in front of smaller crowds at a time when the FFR could really use the money, there’s no place like Stade de France, which has become one of the great rugby venues.

There have been political changes. He has a new boss in FFR President Florian Grill, who – for financial reasons – has imposed stricter policies, limiting Galthie to training at the readymade Marcoussis headquarters. And, while he publicly backs the France coach, it’s clear he’s somewhat more sceptical than his predecessor. On top of that, there’s the new complicated player-release agreement between the FFR and the LNR, limiting Galthie to 34 selections, plus added ‘training partners’ called up for a day or so at a time.

There’s the new coaching set-up. Laurent Labit, Karim Ghezal and Thibault Giroud have all moved on. Raphael Ibanez has a wider role that doesn’t just involve the France senior men’s team.

Former Perpignan boss Patrick Arlettaz is the new attack coach, Laurent Sempere works on the set-piece, and Nicolas Jeanjean heads up strength and conditioning.

The change of staff cannot help but change France. Sempere and Arlettaz are notably different from predecessors Ghezal and Labit.

“This is the first of our missions, to bring a little bit of energy, a different vision,” Sempere said. “The idea is to integrate a system that works …The idea is not to revolutionise everything, but to make progress in the areas we have identified.”

Arlettaz, meanwhile, is an old-school possession-rugby man. His style of attack seems to fit more readily with a gameplan

France vaguely toyed with about 12 months ago, but dropped like a greasy ball as the World Cup neared. In fairness, it really wasn’t a time for experiments. Maybe now’s the time. Just don’t expect

France to go all-Ireland on the Six Nations just because their attack coach prefers it.

“Fabien took me on as an attacker, not for my kicking,” Arlettaz said. “My philosophy is geared more towards possession …[but] Fabien defines the game plan and I concentrate on when we have the ball, whether we have it a lot or not.”

Eras are difficult to define. Ireland coach Andrew Farrell has spoken plainly of his dislike of the notion of fouryear World Cup cycles.

Galthie has a similar attitude. “[Our thinking is] that we are a day or two after the match against South Africa,” he told reporters at the Six Nations’ press launch. “We are not starting from scratch: this is a mix of renewal and continuity.”

Looking at it from his point of view – he’s working on an eight-year plan, rather than a four-year one – it makes sense. The horizon is different, but only because of how far they have come.

Even so, and despite what the coach would prefer, this is the dawn of a new age of French rugby. If the first four years were the Era of Hope, this is the Era of Expectation.

PAUL REES VERDICT

Brawn and brain and Ireland at home

Position: 1st

SQUAD

FORWARDS: Dorian Aldegheri (Toulouse, 16 caps)

Uini Atonio (La Rochelle, 57 caps)

Cyril Baille (Toulouse, 47 caps)

Thomas Laclayat (Racing 92, 1 cap)

Sébastien Taofifenua (Lyon, 3 caps)

Reda Wardi (La Rochelle, 14 caps)

Gaëtan Barlot (Castres, 7 caps)

Julien Marchand (Toulouse, 32 caps)

Peato Mauvaka (Toulouse, 29 caps)

Paul Gabrillagues (Stade Fr, 16 caps)

Matthias Halagahu (Toulon, 0 caps)

Posolo Tuilagi (Perpignan, 0 caps)

Paul Willemse (Montpellier, 31 caps)

Romain Taofifenua (Lyon, 49 caps)

Cameron Woki (Racing 92, 27 caps)

Esteban Abadie (Toulon, 0 caps)

Grégory Alldritt (La Rochelle, 45 caps)

Paul Boudehent (La Rochelle, 6 caps)

François Cros (Toulouse, 27 caps)

Alexandre Roumat (Toulouse, 0 caps)

Charles Ollivon (Toulon, 39 caps)

BACKS: Nolann Le Garrec (Racing 92, 0 caps)

Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux, 18 caps)

Antoine Gibert (Racing 92, 0 caps)

Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux, 30 caps)

Jonathan Danty (La Rochelle, 26 caps)

Gaël Fickou (Racing 92, 85 caps)

Nicolas Depoortère (Bordeaux, 0 caps)

Emilien Gailleton (Pau, 1 cap)

Yoram Moefana (Bordeaux, 23 caps)

Louis Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux, 7 caps)

Melvyn Jaminet (Toulon, 19 caps)

Damian Penaud (Bordeaux, 48 caps)

Thomas Ramos (Toulouse, 31 caps)

Matthis Lebel (Toulouse, 5 caps)