Fabien Galthié France scrum preparation changes ahead of Fiji match, Digi Mart USA News (Lyon, France): Two days before facing Fiji, France coach Fabien Galthié revealed that his staff had profoundly changed the way the French scrum is prepared. The first effects of this change in method are expected Saturday night in Lyon.
The French scrum will be closely watched on Saturday evening against Fiji. At a press conference held Thursday, Galthié acknowledged that his staff had revised its approach in this area of play.
Without precisely detailing the adjustments, the France coach said they had taken a different direction from the one usually followed during France squad gatherings.
“The scrum is still the scrum. Normally, we don’t innovate.
But this time, we tried to innovate,” he told reporters, in remarks reported by Le Figaro. The statement drew attention as France seeks to regain greater reliability in this sector.
Galthié said the team had changed its preparation method and simulated opposition in training, though he did not specify the exact nature of those changes. “We modified quite a few things in this area, we changed the traditions in preparing for a match around this phase of play,” the coach continued.
The changes are not necessarily meant to overhaul how the French scrum operates on the field, but rather how players are prepared for the exercise.
The new approach must also account for a pack reshaped by injuries. In the front row, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Maxime Lamothe and Sipili Falatea will start, while Florian Verhaeghe and Mickaël Guillard will form the second row.
These players will need to quickly find their collective footing against a Fijian opposition known for its physical power.
Galthié himself preferred to wait before drawing conclusions. “The match will be the judge of everything anyway,” he acknowledged.
On Saturday night, the first scrums will offer a concrete preview of the work carried out at Marcoussis in recent days.
