'I hope that teams are scared of us now': Galthie claims favourites tag after bullying Wales

France head coach Fabian Galthie has issued a bold display of confidence after his side’s 41-28 dispatching of Wales to end their Six Nations campaign.

Les Blues finished strongly with dominant wins over England and Wales in the final two weeks to finish second behind Grand Slam champions Ireland, the only team to beat France in the tournament.

But Galthie claimed they were still the team to beat despite Ireland’s title win, with home ground advantage in this year’s World Cup bolstering France’s prospects.

“I hope that teams are scared of us now. We’re certainly the team to beat,” Galthie told media after France’s win.

“We do have an impressive victory ratio. We’ve only lost once here [in Paris].”

France started this year’s tournament off slowly riding a 13-Test winning streak into their Six Nations title defence, almost losing to Italy in Rome in a close match 29-24.

Their winning run came to an end at the hands of Ireland in Dublin the next week but they still finished with an impressive four wins from five outings.

“We started the Six Nations in a lacklustre way, we did as well as we could,” he said.

“Four victories from five in four Six Nations, we have a success rate of 80% in the Six Nations.

“So it’s very positive, if we have to do a purely factual round-up of things.”

France dealt with a significant injury toll in the early stages of the tournament, missing the likes of Cameron Woki, Peato Mauvaka, Maxime Lucu, Baptiste Couilloud and midfielder Jonathan Danty, who returned for the final two weeks.

They will now refocus on getting fully healthy for the Rugby World Cup they will host in September where they will kick-off their campaign against New Zealand in a blockbuster opening clash.

Since taking over the team since 2020 the only team to beat France in Paris under Fabian Galthie has been Scotland, who tipped them over in 2021 with a late try to Duhan van der Merwe to secure a 27-23 upset.

The All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies all suffered defeats in Paris in 2021 and 2022 on their respective end of year tours.

After putting together an undefeated calendar year in 2022 and claiming their own Grand Slam last year France have proved their credentials as World Cup contenders.

France seem to be embracing the prospect of a home tournament with standout fullback Thomas Ramos explaining they are maturing as a group and see it as a positive.

“It’s better that there’s enthusiasm than the opposite. I don’t think it scares us,” Ramos told French news agency AFP.

“I think we’re starting to reach a maturity which means we manage to deal with pressure. The enthusiasm will help us be better than the previous World Cup, for example.”