Martin Lange / Photo credits: EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
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06:14, February 22, 2024
With a difficult start to the competition, the Blues will want to make up for it in the third match of the VI Nations tournament against Italy next Sunday. Against the Italians, the French XV will want to forget the rout against Ireland in Marseille during the opening match. But be careful, Italy also has something to play for.
A vengeful XV of France. Crushed by Ireland in Marseille at the opening of the VI Nations tournament, the Blues remain on a victory against Scotland, 10 days ago. A victory snatched in pain, after a try refused to the Caledonians at the very end of the match. Fabien Galthié’s players were therefore not really reassured. But they are betting a lot on the match against Italy on Sunday. A meeting that they are preparing in their Marcoussis camp.
Italy, the ideal opponent?
Despite the rain, the XV of France rehearses its ranges, under the eyes of Fabien Galthié, still hidden behind his glasses. A coach under pressure. If the Blues won in Scotland 10 days ago, the victory was without style. Against Italy on Sunday, we will have to correct things as confirmed by 3rd row François Cros. “We can’t wait for Sunday. We are happy to have managed to win in Scotland, which is not an easy thing. But in fact, we want to free ourselves, to play an even more successful match and to continue to improve because we saw interesting things last week but we have not yet released our game,” he underlines.
For that, Italy, subscribed to wooden spoons and these tournaments without any victory, could be the ideal victim according to François Cros. “Ideal, I don’t know because they’re still making a good start to the tournament. They’re not far from winning against England. It’s a team that loves playing against us and will want to show it “We have to be wary of the image we gave in the first two matches, it will feed them and they will want to press on that,” he warns at the microphone of Europe 1. And perhaps also take advantage of the absence of captain Grégory Aldritt, injured and who this time will not be able to replace Antoine Dupont… The captain’s armband will be worn by Charles Ollivon.