France-Ireland (36-14): “The players followed the pattern and added their talent”, relishes Fabien Galthié

It was a happy coach who appeared before the media after the large victory of the XV of France (36-14) against Ireland at the opening of the Six Nations Tournament this Thursday evening. A successful launch and already many promises for the rest of the event. He distributes the good points and explains the gap in the second period due to the quality of the opponent.

Does this big victory ideally launch the Tournament?

FABIEN GALTHIÉ. We remembered the starts of the 2020 and 2021 Tournament, now, 2026 is also a reference. From the start, the energy and commitment were there.

How can we explain this good performance?

The players really wanted to play, even though it was Thursday, but we didn’t realize it because we were in our bubble. They wanted to play together. For 50 minutes, they left no space, no hope. They followed the pattern and added their offensive and defensive talent. They are capable of doing great things when they follow the plot. We hadn’t played together in a long time. We focused on us. We have areas for improvement, especially in our first moments of play. And then, the Stade de France very quickly gave us a lot of energy.

How do you explain the air gap in the second period?

This comes first from the Irish team, we must not forget that they are ranked 3rd nation in the world even if we may have forgotten it after 50 minutes of play. A match is rarely perfect, you have to be humble, you have to accept being wrong. We made mistakes at times but not much compared to everything that went well during this match. I can think of possessions we had at that time that we lost much more easily. And when we give these balls to this team, they take advantage of it to change the dynamic.

“I was amazed by their ability to adapt”

Your players also showed themselves to be very disciplined…

We have been working with this framework for ten days. I thank my players, because even if they were penalized 4 times, it was hard to work, to ask them to change their habits. I was amazed by their ability to adapt.

They were also very effective on high balls…

Yes, we were present under the aerial balloons, with efficient players present despite difficult weather conditions. The aerial pressure game was positive, it’s one of Ireland’s specialties and we were good.

Did the hinge meet your expectations?

On the offensive side, the team played very fair. This is one of the fairest performances in a long time. The hand-to-foot alternation was remarkable.