XV of France: “we had to leave time to mourn”, explains Galthié on his silence after the failure of the World Cup

Almost a month after the elimination of the French XV in the quarter-final of “his” World Cup against South Africa (28-29), Fabien Galthié decided to speak to journalists this Wednesday . Very quickly, the Blues coach returned to the pain of the failure suffered during the World Cup before explaining why he made the decision to speak out this week:

“In the post-match conference, World Rugby had planned 15 minutes. We came with Antoine Dupont. The competition ended with the semi-final and the final. When you get knocked out in the quarters, you let the competition unfold. The players left for the clubs. We had to let the Top 14 resume. The selectors who spoke are the winners. We had to give time. We must leave room for those who have won but also time to mourn. For us, it was a huge disappointment. It's been four years of hard work, successful work, with more than 80% victories with all the records you know...

The only goal we wanted was to be champion. The disappointment would have been the same if we had lost in the semi-final or final in the same way, by one point. We talked among ourselves, between the players, the staff, to find out how things were going. The word that comes back and that I share with you is that you have to accept it. We must overcome this state. To tell you the truth, I had planned to speak to you later, at the end of November, but given the authority and the requests, I decided to speed up the process to share this sorrow and this pain.