This week a small flotilla of police boats made its way up the Seine, each one carrying about a dozen players and staff from the French rugby team. The boats moored outside the cathedral of Notre Dame, its occupants put on protective suits and boots, and for the next hour they toured a building that has been closed to the public since the devastating fire that almost destroyed it in 2019. Afterwards, the auxiliary bishop of Paris presented the coach, Fabien Galthié, with the jersey of the Vatican rugby club signed by Pope Francis.
What, do we reckon, was the meaning behind this pilgrimage and the meticulously choreographed ritual accompanying it? A simple photo opportunity? A spot of light tourism on a day off? Almost certainly not. A coach as fixated on messaging and small details as Galthié does not stage these things on a whim. After a planned visit was cancelled in August, he “insisted on” rescheduling it, according to Max Guazzini, the former president of Stade Français who organised the visit.
