Fabien Galthié: “This press conference could last an hour, an hour and a half, there are so many things to say about the France team and this meeting against South Africa. Today, it is a team that is one of the best teams that have existed in world rugby. They are writing something like this. It's a meeting that is both fantastic and wonderful, at the Stade de France, which will be full, in front of our audience, which we have seen since the victory in the Six Nations Tournament against England. It was an extraordinary communion with Thomas Ramos' penalty which passed at the last minute, in an incredible match, an incredible competition where we achieved the double victory in 2025 and 2026. It's huge for the players, for us, to find this environment with our public, against South Africa.
“What could I say to describe this South African team? What I know is that beyond the marvelous, the fantastic, the sublime, to be able to confront these players who have been references for almost ten years now, some having participated in the World Cup in 2015, it is also a great threat, a great danger. Today, they monopolize victories, world titles and victories in competitions in the southern hemisphere. I know their state of mind well, I know how they are prepared. I saw their match in Italy like everyone else. We follow them. I watch all their matches, of course. I follow what they do. I know it’s a big threat for our France team. A big threat because, of course, we like this challenge, we are very excited by this challenge, we really want to take it on and we will take it on, I am sure of it.”
The threat of double world champions
“We saw the threat in what they did in Italy (66-7), in what they did against the All Blacks (during the series won 3-1 this summer, Editor’s note). And I believe that in the speeches that I was able to hear, in the declarations, there is a word that I noted: “We have never beaten this French team.” And there is also “the attraction of the Stade de France”. They were talking about the Stade de France and the warm, caring public, happy to see very high level rugby, and the word “roll” about the France team. I understand and I know tactically, technically, rugby-wise what they came to do here. I have no doubt about that. If I have to set a framework: there is all the respect that we can have for this South African team, what it exudes, this strength, its intentions, its objectives and the threat that it represents for our French team which will be aligned on Friday.
It’s a challenge in which we took a lot of pleasure in trying to design: something that could give us the most support, the most balance in our conduct of the game
The puzzle for the opener position
“I would like to spare a thought for Romain Ntamack, who will not be able to play this match. You should know that these players are formatted to play these matches. I also have a thought for Matthieu Jalibert, who will not be able to play this match, for Thomas Ramos, who scored the last penalty for the victory and who will not be able to play this match, for Antoine Hastoy, who came on tour this summer. (…) We are preparing with a lot of pleasure, a lot of joy to face this team. In the organization that we designed in two days, we chose to start Maxime (Lucu) at the scrum and Antoine (Dupont) at the opening, because it seemed to us that it was the best option at the moment, with Axel (Desperes) who remains on the finishers' bench. He's a very good scorer. We have a scorer with Max and we have options around this potential or future hinge.”
“We worked in this organization. This is an immense challenge to take on. It's a challenge in which we took a lot of pleasure in trying to design: something that could give us the most support, the most balance in our handling of the game. At the hinge, there are two players who have a lot of experience. They are two icons in France, one in Bordeaux and the other in Toulouse, and in the world. We have two icons that we wanted to combine to lead this French team on Friday evening. It won't be easy, but having discussed it with them. We discussed it more than trained, but we visualized it. We think this is the best solution.”
Antoine Dupont’s choice in 10
“There, I’m not going to go into the strategic approach. I'm going to keep a bit of a trade secret. But coming back to South Africa, you talked about areas where they were effective. I have the impression that they are effective everywhere. In the air, there isn't much room with them. On the ground, there isn't much room with them. In the spaces there are not many free spaces with them. To hit the lanes, you have to go through a midfielder who is very aggressive and who gains the advantage line a lot. There isn't a lot of space in midfield. So the challenge is immense.”
“I repeat, if we talk about the more rugby approach, and here, that allows us to go into a little more detail, against the South African team, there is very little space, very little time and a permanent physical dimension which means that the balance of power then weighs on the strategic relationship and on the technical or tactical relationship. Bulk. But it’s good because it allows us to establish the framework within which we will evolve.”
Alldritt is a player who, over the last four years, has accumulated so many match sheets that it is hard for him to keep up.
The return of Grégory Alldritt
“Grégory is someone who, since 2020, has played a lot with us. He also played a lot with his club La Rochelle. He is a player who, over the last four years, has accumulated so many match sheets that it is hard for him to continue, even if I consider that he is potentially a player who should be able to continue to play even better rugby. But that's something else. He is fighting to return to this France team and the opportunity is there for him. For us too, because he is a player who has a lot of experience and who counts in the locker room. When he speaks, he is listened to, he is followed, he has charisma. He is a wonderful man, an example of self-sacrifice, of giving to the team. He’s a playmaker, he’s a leader of men. He is very appreciated in the team, in the collective and by the friends who are around him. For him, it’s an incredible opportunity to come back and wear this France team jersey. And having discussed it with him, he is ready.”
Psychological warfare with Rassie Erasmus
“Rassie is at the head of the world champion team in 2019 and 2023. If we talk about my relationship with him, I often played against him. If we talk about our relationship, when he coached Munster in 2017, I spent time at Munster with his staff, part of this staff is still his in the South Africa team. I think that in competition, there are no gifts. It's normal. It's a game, but there are no gifts. He won't do it. If we talk about me, what I like, the luck I have at this level, is to try to confront the best. The difficulty of confronting the best is what I like. Then, if we talk about getting into the head of your opponent, I think we're a bit... comics. It’s cute but I think it’s the players who play first. So you have to have a little humility, take a step back and say to yourself: on the pitch, it's neither him nor me, it's the South African team and the France team. I think that we must above all respect the players who play. For the rest, for me, it's true, I try with my staff and with the players to build the best possible French team, whatever happens, whatever the circumstances, and with our environment which is ours.
“I’ve already said it: it doesn’t bother them, our way of operating, our rugby, our ecosystem. It suits them very well at the international level. They know very well what is going on with us. I know very well what is going on with them. I have no doubt about the quality of their team's preparation, the way they prepare it, the players they have available and their ability to perform over time. I know it well. I would still limit the balance of power with a little humility, I would put it at a distance, it’s in the stands. Those who play are the players who will face the South Africans. When it came to team composition, we did what seemed best to us and we didn't really listen to each other's advice. There are a lot of coaches in France who advise teams and I see that there are also many around the world who are interested in our French team. So anything that gets people interested in our team is fine with me. That means the Blues are popular. Even if, in the world, we are given advice, I hear it. But afterward, we know our players well.”
“Do something unimaginable” against the Boks
“What I said (Saturday after the victory against Fiji), I really meant it and I still mean it, but I won’t go any further. The rest is now the property of our group of players. It's part of our preparation. There, I'm colder. But it’s true that when we enter the field, we have an ambition. We know the difficulty of achieving this ambition, but we have an ambition. We know what I said from the start, we know the risks, we know the danger, the level of danger compared to the opponent, but we clearly have an ambition. She hasn't changed since Saturday evening. We worked with this conviction.”
Rugby in South Africa is not just a sport, it is a form of religion
Rugby, king sport in South Africa
“Rugby is popular in South Africa. They have a million practitioners in their country. It is the only team sport that carries a country, which carries an identity. They are four times world champions, knowing that they did not participate in the 1987 and 1991 editions, they participated in their first World Cup in 1995. So they have four titles since this event existed, without having participated in the first two. This is not new. It is, with New Zealand, one of the two major rugby countries. It was and it is even more so today, because there is a popular phenomenon, a societal phenomenon around their rugby. And it starts in 1995, when they entered the World Cup with Mandela, with all this sociological dimension around culture, their country, their history. That is to say, it goes beyond that. Rugby in South Africa is not just a sport, it is a form of religion. They educate you in big universities, in schools. I played in South Africa in 1995, I played for Western Province, so I know South Africa.
“I can tell you that when you see the final phases of universities, clubs, colleges, you understand what passion is around a sport. And passion brings the elite with power. Today, there is a powerful dynamic around this practice of rugby which means that South Africa holds this rank. It’s very difficult to maintain a rank, very difficult to always be at the highest level. Very difficult. We saw it with winning the Six Nations Tournament, which is the highest European level. Winning it twice in a row is very difficult. What they do, being world champions, coming back from behind and potentially being a team that can do it again, it's very difficult. There is a crazy energy that gives power to the elite: it’s passion. And this is the ambition that we have had since I was in the selection. This is the ambition that we have around this sporting practice, much greater than just the result. This is the ambition we have around the sporting practice of rugby.”
Learn to “manage chaos”
“Rugby is like that, and high-level rugby is even more so, with more intensity. This is what our South African adversary will constantly offer us. A rugby that projects forward, both on the ground and in the air, and which multiplies the alternation between situations on the ground and in the air. So he creates this illegibility among the players by constantly seeking to create chaos, crisis. Playing Fiji, a very physical team from the start, then South Africa, then Argentina, it's extraordinary for us in three weeks. And behind it, there is a classification match, because the competition in which we are engaged is a competition with a classification match and potentially a final. We have 17 points. We brought 12 from the South this summer, we took 5 points against Fiji and we have the ambition to take points next Friday and Saturday against Argentina to stay at the top of this competition. It’s a detail that’s important.”
“It’s clear that there is a whole event, a thought, a meditation around this date. I am a citizen of the Republic and we are all citizens of the Republic. The French team is a citizen of the Republic and there will be a whole series of events around this November 13, meditation, a thought and above all questions to ask about our society and the role we have in this society. This afternoon (Wednesday), we are going to stop at the Arc de Triomphe because it is also November 11. We will therefore gather at the Arc de Triomphe with the entire French team. It’s important.”
“We are the French team, our families, our ancestors and our children are children of the Republic and, for us, that is very important. The Republic is very important and the events of November 11 and November 13 are dates that matter in our history, in our construction and in our team. It’s also part of the preparation, of course, and”
