As he had been able to do for the French football team, Emmanuel Macron met the staff and players of the XV of France to encourage them for the World Cup. The President of the Republic took the bus with the players to travel between the training stadium and the Renaissance hotel in Rueil-Malmaison. He then addressed them, asking them to make the French “proud and happy”.
The President of the Republic lavished encouragement on them: “You are at home, you are the best prepared team in the world, there is no doubt about it”, he told them, while defending himself from “wanting to put pressure on them”. Still, he concluded with a speech that sounded almost martial: “No room for economy, give it your all. You are the greatest team. You will be brothers in arms who will fight until the last second (…). The team is bigger, the nation is bigger than each of you. But make us proud and happy”.
The France team will face New Zealand this Friday (9:15 p.m.) at the opening of the World Cup.
