Galthiet recounts his exchange with DuPont over arbitration after the quarterfinal elimination

French national team coach Fabien Galtier was a guest on the Super Moscato Show today, Thursday, on RMC. When asked about the early elimination from the quarter-finals, he did not want to point the finger at Ben O’Keefe’s refereeing. He recounted his conversation with his team leader, Antoine Dupont, before half the audience criticized the referee’s decisions.

He spoke to RMC for about an hour. The coach of the French XV, Fabien Galti, was the extraordinary guest on Thursday at the Super Moscato exhibition. Vincent Muscato and his gang have the opportunity to return with him to eliminate the Blues in the quarter-finals of the recent Rugby World Cup. When asked about the heavy defeat against the Bucs, he did not seek to condemn New Zealand referee Ben O’Keefe, who found himself at the center of criticism because of some of his decisions.

“I am an educator”

“There are two teams and a refereeing panel in the middle. It’s not a man, it’s a refereeing panel. There are preparations up front. Ben O’Keefe, we know him, he officiated against Uruguay (during the World Cup).” And the VI Nations match in England where we won 53-10 at Twickenham (March 2023). In a match there are game facts. Me “I am a teacher, I have to teach the players of the French national team and those below. Sport, without respect for the referee, would no longer exist. So be careful what you say.” The Blues boss insisted.

He added: “We have the right to have our own referee. There are 20 million French people who watched the match, and they know the game of rugby. They know how to form their own opinion. There is a mistake or there is no mistake.” “There is no debate. In this match, we entered the end zone 11 times, which was not planned. Tactically, we prepared the match well, but we were not able to decide it. The refereeing is the issue of the match.”

“The trial we gave the referees is not fair.”

At the Super Moscato show, Galthié also returned to comments made by his captain Antoine Dupont after the elimination. The Toulouse man’s face was closed and dry, and he was finding it difficult to hide his annoyance with Ben O’Keefe. “In the last action, we were still in a position to get a penalty,” recalls Galti. The referee blew his whistle. He stopped. After four years, everything stopped. I got up to go see the players. Some of them collapsed or were knocked out. Antoine, “After 30 -35 minutes, we go to a press conference. Arbitration? We talk about it together and I told him he is free to express himself. I will not go into this topic. “I understand the feelings.”

True to his line of conduct, Galthie did not above all want to confuse the jury. He said: “We have lost a little of our potential in this balance of power that has quickly become tense since the first decision. What we have learned over four and a half years is that “we support the referee in his decisions.” We pressed hard.” The referee was at his limit. There are fine lines between support and losing a little clarity. From the first action there is an issue that we cannot reach to clear. We talked about it at half-time, he continued. South Africa experienced “the same thing against England. (…) We sent nine clips for discussion. I am an educator. We must keep moving forward. We don’t have an option (to adapt to arbitration). The referees are working well today. “The trial we are giving them is not fair.”