Running among the children, delivering passes, giving advice… Fabien Galthié needed a breath of fresh air before locking himself in front of the press late Wednesday afternoon in the clubhouse from the Charléty stadium (Paris 13th arrondissement) and to answer questions referring to a reality that he would have liked to be different. If he remained closed, braced on his certainties and rather escaping by returning to the premature elimination of the Blues in the quarter-final of the World Cup last October 15 in Saint-Denis against South Africa (29 -28), the coach of the XV of France, on the other hand, gave of himself among the kids from the PUC rugby school a little earlier in the afternoon. A desire on his part.
“We were contacted by the communications service of the French Federation,” says Jérôme Bousquet, president of the PUC. The idea was to give this conference a rugby anchor within a Parisian club. For us it was of course an honor. The only difficulty is that the rugby school training ground is not adjacent to our clubhouse. » A little over a kilometer going back along the ring road to find the West stadium where the young Pucistes train. Fabien Galthié arrived earlier than expected, well before the start of the under-12 session set for 4:30 p.m. He had a snack at the edge of the pitch then he gathered all the educators in the locker rooms adjoining the artificial turf .
“He first showed us on a Powerpoint all the data that we came out of a match, taking the defeat against South Africa as an example,” explains Apolline Clément, player at Stade Français and under-12 educator. years of PUC intending to become a PE teacher. It was very rich and very interesting. We asked technical questions, he answered everything. Then, we prepared the session together. »
On the lawn, around sixty budding rugby players were waiting for him. The coach got involved in the game, moving from one match to another, four in all spread across parts of the field. In his XV of France tracksuit, Fabien Galthié quickly ran out of breath in the middle of twirling twigs. “When there was a break, he would come back to certain actions, give advice,” adds the young educator. It was very interesting, very educational. The children were delighted. » A breath of fresh air under a light fresh rain which ended for the coach with a photo session, just before facing other objectives and answering other, slightly more disturbing questions during the conference Press. And get around them.
