What does this opponent represent, the best team in the world for several years?
William Servat: He is a magnificent opponent, whom we respect enormously! We must have admiration for teams that succeed as they have done to date. For the accuracy they have, and everything they put in place gives them the means to win, to dominate… It’s a great challenge for us. This is a team that eliminated us from a major competition not so long ago (in the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Cup, Editor's note). Today, we are in another competition (the Nations Championship) where, indeed, this match is a peak, an extraordinary match. But, beyond the result of this match, there will be a continuation and also an ability to play, why not, another final.
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2022, 2023, 2025, France-South Africa are always special matches. For what reasons do you think?
Because these are matches with a lot of physical commitment. We play rugby because it is a pleasure to play with this ball which, from time to time, does not fall on the right side. But it is also a pleasure to play because this collective combat sport creates friendships and special moments between players. That's how I'm good friends with Dan Human, who will be my counterpart on the other side on Friday. He is someone with whom I spent a lot of time at Stade Toulousain, with whom I shared a lot of things, a lot of titles. It will also be a chance to meet at that time. And when we know the people we are going to meet, we know that they are people with character, who are extremely physical, who do not cheat in their commitment, in their way of being. So it’s a pleasure to face teams with this state of mind. To discuss it with Dan, I have a lot of respect for the South African staff, for their way of organizing things, the solidarity they can have when they were in difficulty in their last competitions in the southern hemisphere. I believe that these are staff that look like us, players that look like us and a team that we like to face.
Lightning has struck the same position, that of opener, several times in recent weeks. What does this bring and how does it weaken you?
(Smile) I didn't know what position you were going to talk to me about because the weather is rather stormy for us at the moment... We have current events which, already, bother us on a human level because we don't train robots: we train human beings and we have relationships with these people. It’s always difficult to see people suffering and leaving us. But they will come back... Today, obviously, we have strategic choices to make. But we still have the same desire to put in place a coherent game and strategy to ensure that the team, which has had a solid backbone for some time, can try to continue playing as it does, to find its principles. Because, despite the lightning, despite the absentees, we still have a quality of play and a quality of players which are an opportunity and a wealth today in France. Being able to rely on such a large collective bodes well for the future.
Why is the Springbok scrum so dominant?
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The melee perfectly symbolizes the South Africans. I told you earlier that I know their trainer a little. I shared more than moments of life with him. This scrum represents the state of mind of South Africa, with a great organization, a great cohesion which means that this team, for two or three years, I would not say that it is marching on world rugby, but not far. We realize their density. The strength of a team is to ensure that the collective strength supplants the individual strength of its players. The South Africans are working in this direction and it is clear that they are succeeding. But we know that we have players capable of competing. One thing is certain: we know that we are going to have an unambiguous fight with people who will give their all. We will not have simulated scrums, no scrums with players who will cheat in the engagement. We will have teams who will want to be rather frank, who will want to try to impose their strength. This fight, whatever the outcome, I find it rather nice to fight…
They are simply two great rugby players.
William Servat, about Maxime Lucu and Antoine Dupont
You mentioned the elimination of 2023. To what extent did you work on the psychological dimension with your players before this reunion with the South Africans?
Quite honestly, we didn't speak once in the week of 2023. That was a long time ago. I was just talking about it in the context of our latest confrontations with South Africa. It was a major competition and they dominated us to win. But, today, this match goes so far... We have seen last year's match more than that of 2023. I am not going to say that the teams are not similar, because, in terms of our strategy, our way of playing, if we have small developments, we really have a real line, a guiding thread which should lead us to the World Cup. This team is a little different from last year, with profiles that are a little more aerial, a little more running.
What would it change, strategically, to have Maxime Lucu or Antoine Dupont at the opening?
Beyond the specificity of the position, they are quite simply two great rugby players, two extremely important people in our collective, excellent technicians, excellent tacticians. It's a chance to have players of this level, with such versatility, which means that, due to an injury, we find ourselves, like against Fiji, with a scrum-half who goes open and who plays a more than high-level game, finding his bearings very quickly.
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Grégory Alldritt should make his return, one year after his last selection. What could he bring to the France team?
Before talking about technique, Greg is someone who counts in the group, who has a voice that counts. With his experience, he can bring people around him, he is a locker room leader. When we have a Grégory Alldritt, with all the intensity he can bring, a Julien Marchand who can come back, we realize what they can bring to a group. We also count on this capacity: the extra soul, the appetite and the desire that they may have. It can move mountains. And, on Friday, we are going to face one...
Comments collected at a press conference
