France's weak lineup for the first rugby test against New Zealand raises questions
French coach Fabien Galthié has brought an understrength squad to New Zealand for the three-test series, leaving at home many of his leading players who have been involved in the latter rounds of the Top 14 club competition.
While New Zealand Rugby and All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson have been diplomatic about the makeup of the French squad, the decision to send a weakened group to New Zealand has been more widely interpreted as arrogant and disrespectful.
Despite years of work towards an integrated global calendar, World Rugby has continued to prioritize northern hemisphere club competitions ahead of the July test window.
Galthié has insisted he has no other choice than to pick players who are rested. Yet when southern hemisphere teams tour Britain and Europe in November, they routinely take full-strength teams and players who have been in training for up to 10 months.
'We don't have a choice other than picking players who have finished their seasons,' Galthié said. 'It's an opportunity for us to work with the best players available.
'The constraints of the Six Nations, the November tests, the Top 14, and the European Cup leave us with no other choice for the summer tour.'
Galthié said criticism of the decision to bring a team of obscure club players to New Zealand is misplaced.
'You have to be informative and try to explain the obligations which are linked to our season schedule,' he said. 'I understand very well that, on the international circuit, people don't understand why the team that went undefeated in November and won the (Six Nations) tournament isn't there.'
The French club season has long been a bugbear which World Rugby hasn't addressed. The All Blacks will gain little or nothing from playing a team of players so little known that routine analysis of their play has been difficult.
This season is expected to be a major test for Robertson, who lost four tests in his first season in charge and is under pressure to produce better results. It is unlikely the coming series will reveal much about how the All Blacks coach has grown since last year, unless the French prove surprisingly competitive.
Robertson has admitted he lacked self-confidence in his first year in charge and that resulted in a conservative approach to selection and tactics. His choice of four new caps in this match and his pledge to play a more attacking game points to a more confident approach.
'We want to play fast,' Robertson said. 'We think the game is in a great place for us — quick scrums, quick lineouts, quick taps. Our skill set trends to us playing fast and creating so that's what we'll push all week.'
Robertson said France will be 'quite free . . . there is not too much weight on their shoulders and respect so they can be dangerous.'
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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
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