Fabien Galthie's emphatic World Cup statement after Six Nations title

France head coach Fabien Galthie believes his current team are better than the side that crashed out of the World Cup in 2023 to eventual winners South Africa.

Galthie won the second Guinness Six Nations title of his tenure on Saturday at the Stade de France, beating Scotland 35-16 in the final match of the Championship to edge past England by a solitary point in the standings.

Though the France boss admitted “the stadium, the environment maybe caught up with us,” as they faltered in the first half, he was “relieved” to win what he described as a “final”.

This was the same venue that Les Bleus fell 28-29 to the Springboks in 2023 in a home World Cup that many tipped them to win. While Galthie was inevitably asked whether the win banished any of the memories of that defeat as they build towards the 2027 tournament, he stressed that it is not necessary to forget about that match, rather use the memories of 2023, as well as a tricky 2024 campaign, to grow and become a better team now.

“We don’t need to forget about it, we need to grow thinking about it,” he said.

“The more often you find yourself in this situation, the easier it becomes.

“We know each other so well. We understand each other so well.

“I think today’s team is better than the 2023 team. We went through the World Cup in 2023 and also 2024, that was tough too. Constantly improving.”

Of course, the team that were victorious over Scotland could have been improved with the addition of the injured Antoine Dupont, who hobbled to the stage to lift the trophy.

Stand-in captain Gregory Alldritt said after the match that it was his “dream” to see Dupont raise the trophy aloft, saying the scrum-half is “definitely the captain”.

“I wanted to see Antoine lift the trophy,” he said. “I was the captain for the team this weekend, but he is definitely the captain and I wanted him to lift the trophy.”

Alldritt was part of the cohort of players that departed shortly after half-time for ‘Le Bomb Squad’ to be unleashed, who took the game away from the visitors. The match was very much in the balance at that point, and save for a narrowly disallowed try, Gregor Townsend’s side would have gone in at half time leading instead of trailing 16-13.

Galthie reflected on why France stuttered in the latter part of the first half after a promising start, criticising his side for giving the ball away too easily, but adding that the team felt the pressure arriving at the stadium.

The No.8 also commended Scotland for the way they play, saying: “Scotland play good rugby, and it has never been an easy victory. Winning 35-16 is a beautiful win for us and we had to fight to get into the match, and it took us a while.”