{"id":527634,"date":"2026-03-08T23:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T23:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/527634\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T23:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T23:07:08","slug":"the-surprising-fabien-galthie-take-on-frances-murrayfield-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/527634\/","title":{"rendered":"The surprising Fabien Galthie take on France’s Murrayfield collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

France\u2019s Grand Slam dream may have gone up in puff of Edinburgh<\/a> cannon smoke but Fabien Galthie\u2019s reaction afterwards was strikingly measured.<\/p>\n

Les Bleus were swept aside 50-40 by Scotland<\/a> in a 13-try thriller at Murrayfield, at one stage trailing 47-14 before rallying late to salvage a bonus point that could yet prove decisive in the title race.<\/p>\n

Given the circumstances, a furious or defensive response might have been expected from the infamously ebullient Frenchman. Instead, the France<\/a> head coach was unusually magnanimous, openly acknowledging Scotland\u2019s superiority on the day.<\/p>\n

If anything he was rather phlegmatic in face of what some might have branded a disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are disappointed because we lost,\u201d said Galthie. \u201cWe are disappointed because we had the ambition to win here. But on the scenario of the match, the [Scottish] victory is coherent and logical. It is normal for the Scots to win this match. They played a great match. They took us in the basics of the rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galthie was particularly impressed by the midfield pairing of Sione Tuipulotu<\/a> and Huw Jones<\/a>, conceding that France struggled to stem the tide once the flood gates opened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did very well. They did very well with their pair of 12-13, their animation. It was a chain of events. We took penalties, then we took points, then we took yellow cards, then we took tests again. At the end of the day, it\u2019s hard to stop haemorrhaging. It\u2019s true that we couldn\u2019t find a solution early enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galthie also laboured the point that France remain firmly in the driving seat heading into the final round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have the time. We have a week. In the heat of the moment, we\u2019re thinking about the next step. But it\u2019s clear that we\u2019re still first. We have the possibility to win the competition. That\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

France\u2019s late rally ensured they left Edinburgh with a crucial attacking bonus point.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t lost on Galthie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players went to get it. We had to get the offensive bonus. It was going to score four tries. When the gap was big, we were at two tries. The players went to get six tries. We went from two to six tries. Especially with the very good return of the finishers. They gave energy to the team. They allowed the team to score four tries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are disappointed. We wanted to do much better. We were very ambitious. We understand the disappointment of our fans. We share it. But we\u2019re in a race to win the competition. We have a game in Paris. Saturday night at the Stade de France. It\u2019s our daily life. We know we have to go through this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France\u2019s Grand Slam dream may have gone up in puff of Edinburgh cannon smoke but Fabien Galthie\u2019s reaction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-527634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}