Fabien Galthié will reveal his squad of 33 players for the World Cup (October 8-October 28) on Monday during TF1’s 1 p.m. newscast. At the end of the convincing success over Fiji (34-17), the coach of the Blues let go of the speculations to know which player will be selected, or not: “If we waited until Sunday to make the list, that would mean that we would have done nothing for 4 years. No.” Things are already clear in his head.
And, after the match at La Beaujoire, Paul Willemse, the second line of Montpellier who was making his return to the France team, revealed that the tricolor staff had already warned certain players that they would not be part of the group. tricolor. “We already started talking about that at the start of the week about the fact that it will happen (the announcement of the 33, editor’s note). The staff have already started communicating with some players, so it won’t be a huge shock. It will be a bit of a special moment, but we knew from the start that nine players were going to leave. With the staff, they prepared it.
Fabien Galthié had previously explained, in a press conference, that he and his staff “try to work in a coherent way and each player knows about his position, each player was able to exchange and read through these exchanges our potential decision”: “ Once again, the list of 33, you make it a “cut” event. But, often there may be players who are not on the list but will play the major matches and be the heroes. It’s already arrived. We have plenty of examples like that.”
The possibility of being recalled, during competition, is an element regularly repeated by the tricolor coach. “The idea is to build a group that will be cut off by several players. But they will have passed a “cut” at all levels: physical, rugby and on the management of emotions. And Paul Willemse confirms: “These nine players can be there for a quarter, a half or a final. you have to be ready if this opportunity arises. The players have that in their head.