Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

The World Cup elimination messages Galthie got from Henry, Woodward

(Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

France boss Fabien Galthie has revealed he was contacted by both Graham Henry and Clive Woodward the day after Les Bleus were eliminated from the Rugby World Cup last month. The French were knocked out at the quarter-final stage, losing by a single point to eventual winners South Africa.

ADVERTISEMENT

It was a crushing blow as the 2022 Guinness Six Nations Grand Slam winners were hotly tipped to win the World Cup on home soil. It was also Galthie’s first finals as head coach and he has taken solace from the message he got in the aftermath from Henry and Woodward.

Both those former coaches were eliminated at the quarter-finals when they were first in charge of New Zealand and England respectively at the finals in 2007 and 1999, but they rebounded to win the trophy four years later in 2011 and 2003 – something Galthie will now look to do with France at Australia 2027.

Video Spacer

Rugbypass TV

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      Video Spacer

      Rugbypass TV

      Watch rugby on demand, from exclusive shows and documentaries to extended highlights from RWC 2023. Anywhere. Anytime. All for free!

      Join us

      Asked in a long-form interview in Midi Olympique if he was inspired by how Henry and Woodward successfully responded to their failed first efforts by winning the Webb Ellis Cup at the second time of asking, Galthie revealed: “It’s funny that you tell me about that because two of them wrote to me the day after the game.

      “Two who have had that experience. I quoted one of their phrases: sometimes things that need to happen don’t happen. And I thought that was very fair. And in their message, there was also this advice, or this sharing of experience: time will allow us to clarify things that seem obvious.”

      Galthie wouldn’t go into the exact specifics of the messages but he has taken inspiration from what was written by Henry and Woodward. “I’d rather not tell you, but I had two very nice testimonies of references that you mentioned. These men have known success and also difficulty.

      “The next day, you know… We read without reading. These two have touched the Holy Grail but they are not French. When I was hot (the day after losing to South Africa), I didn’t feel anything but over time, I came back to it [the messages]. Time took its toll and I understood what they felt and what they wanted to share.

      ADVERTISEMENT

      “They passed through territories that we have been using for the past month. It’s interesting to hear what they have to share.”

      Looking ahead to the immediate future, Galthie admitted a decision needs to be taken on how France approach their summer tours. In recent years they have visited Japan and Australia with understrength squads and they are now reportedly scheduled to tour Argentina in 2024.

      “We’re going to take it step by step. How are we going to work? Do I go back to a team of France that plays only eight so-called ‘premium’ matches where we play only November, February and March without playing the tours outside, with a team of France ‘development’ for the summer tours?

      “The calendar is going to change in two years, how are we going to play? These are discussions that we are going to have with Jean-Marc (Lhermet), with the League… I decided to protect the players, to select the best players for only eight games.

      ADVERTISEMENT

      “The other nations have them play at least 12 Tests. Our best players therefore play fewer major international matches than the others, a third less. Do we continue like this? It’s going to be an interesting discussion. But when you’re playing at the international level, you first have to accept that you’re going into the unknown.”

      ADVERTISEMENT

      Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

      Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

      The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

      KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

      New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

      USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

      France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

      Lions Share | Episode 4

      Trending on RugbyPass

      Comments

      2 Comments
      M
      Matt Perry 606 days ago

      Assumed it was Thierry Henry from the headline for some reason!

      C
      Chris 606 days ago

      That would be a massive mistake I think to have only a limited number of player taken and increase the number of games per player.

      The biggest strength France has is its depth, take that away and you’ll see that it might work for one world cup cycle but won’t be enough to be the biggest team of the next decade(s) (as it should be considering that it is by far the biggest domestic championship with 30 professional teams where other countries have 12 at most).

      Join free and tell us what you really think!

      Sign up for free
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Latest Features

      Comments on RugbyPass

      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      Leicester Fainga'anuku denied All Blacks eligibility for TRC

      I don’t get that. I got the opposite, this was something Lester really really wanted to do. NZR is not going to stop him doing that by putting ridiculous money in front of him (noted you were only asking for fair money).


      I wouldn’t say this was a Mo’unga or Frizell situation where there talent only was unlocked after they signed abroad, when Schmidt and Ryan came in respectively. LF was on a good trajectory, and he just decided he has the perfect window of opportunity to go abroad while he’s not first choice, learn and live in France to come back better and have a good shot at the perfect age. I think he recongised that.


      Agreed that our rotation has been off the the last decade, players have not been moved on when they should, but I wouldn’t include Rieko in that discussion, though I would accept he is more of a marketing than performance signing.


      Also agree it is a strange condunrum that results from the misalligned seasons, where Lester is straight into NPC in the same season almost. When really the ‘start’ of his contract is next year. Is he even going to be on the payroll at the moment? Could it be used as a double dip to encourage players back, a ‘bonus international season’ of match fees.


      But they also don’t want them to become anymore common. So perhaps everything is fine? Like I was alluding to with Toko, they would need multiple markers of their own in Top 14 for them to be able to gauge off. As I’ve said in previous articles I’d be comfortable to expand sabbaticals to 2 in every position (yes a huge change), so that the was a core group of 30 of the top players all aligned with the ABs and overseas at any one time. This would ensure there are good markers to correlate levels of performance amongst everyone. This is a very similar setup/size to South Africa. It is like the AB modem in a wider organism, the vets are shipped off much earlier, and the core of next cycle is brought through. No missing out on the JGPs or Aki’s, no the Antonio’s or young Patrick Tuifua’s to france, keeping the Chandler Cunningham-South’s or Roots brothers, evan this Dubious guy from the French team was playing rugby here in NZ and could have stayed with a more ground up focus on bringing players through, not paying them much etc lol

      45 Go to comments
      LONG READ
      LONG READ Hugo Keenan: From high school 'D' team to British and Irish Lions immortality Hugo Keenan: From high school 'D' team to British and Irish Lions immortality