France rugby union head coach Fabien Galthié reacted to his team's first defeat in 14 matches with a business-as-usual approach to Sunday's clash at the Stade de France against Scotland.
The former France skipper, who took over as team boss just after the 2019 World Cup, opted to start the third game in the 2023 Six Nations tournament with the same players he sent out in Dublin two weeks ago.
France lost the match 35-19 as well as prop Uini Atonio who was suspended for three weeks following a yellow card during the game at the Aviva Stadium.
Mohamed Haouas will replace the 32-year-old and feature in the starting line-up for the first time since 6 November 2021 when France played Argentina.
"For the last four years we have been trying to have a vision," said Galthié ever his avuncular self.
"Defeat could mean punishment, and therefore changes. But we felt there was no reason to change, apart from the integration of Haouas and that allows us to keep a lot of collective experience."
🇫🇷🆚🏴 𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘/𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗦𝗦𝗘, c'est dimanche à 16h au @StadeFrance ! #FRAECO
— France Rugby (@FranceRugby) February 24, 2023
🔥💪 On compte sur vous pour soutenir votre #XVdeFrance ! #NeFaisonsXV pic.twitter.com/mEJlmRygV8
Zen grit despite the storm of criticism following the defeat.
France won all five games – the Grand Slam – in the 2022 Six Nations competition to claim the title.
It was their first clean sweep since 2010. Galthie´'s boys – according to the pundits – were supposed to underline their operatic wonderfulness with another Six Nations title to anoint themselves as 2023 rugby World Cup winners-in-waiting.
However, the presumed pomp has plunged into commedia dell'arte.
After scraping past Italy 29-24 in their opening game in Rome, Galthié's side were torn apart by a rampant Ireland side.
"We didn’t give away tries, because they are good enough to score them," said Galthié after the defeat.
"But we put ourselves into difficult positions. We exposed ourselves.
"We have to learn to accept defeat,” he added. “We don’t really enjoy it, it’s not a nice feeling, but we’ll have to live with it.
“We learn a lot from wins but also a lot from defeats too.”
Education
The benefits of the schooling from their Irish masters will be on vivid display in front of nearly 80,000 frenzied partisans.
Scotland arrive at the Stade de France unbeaten in the Six Nations.
They edged past England 29-23 at Twickenham in the opening round of matches on 4 February.
And Gregor Townsend's men followed that up with a 35-7 annihilation of Wales at Murrayfield on 11 February.
For the starting line-up in the game against France,Townsend has drafted in Hamish Watson to replace Luke Crosbie in the scrum.
Your Scotland side for Sunday's clash in Paris 🏴
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 24, 2023
More ➡️ https://t.co/bFGv7BRPDU pic.twitter.com/1s1OFDz0Xp
Since the Five Nations morphed into the Six Nations tournament in 2000 with the addition of Italy, France and Scotland have played 22 times with the French winning 17 of the encounters.
Three of the Scottish victories though have come within the past five years and they triumphed on their last visit to the Stade de France in 2021.
"There's an excitement about the challenges ahead of us," Townsend told Scottish Rugby's TV station.
"There's also a determination," he added. "We feel we can play better than we did in those first two games."
Townsend, 49, played 82 times for Scotland between 1993 and 2003 scoring 164 points.
"The Stade de France has got one of the best atmospheres you can play in," Townsend added.
"The French public have really been behind their team over the last couple of years.
"They've been playing very good rugby and they play a kind of rugby that can get the crowd on their feet. I'd like to think that Scotland can do that too.
"It's going to be an exciting place to go out and express ourselves. We're going to have to be at our best if we want to win."
