Fabien Galthié revealed the composition of the French XV which will face Fiji this Saturday. He took the opportunity to talk about Damian Penaud.
He will therefore be one of the nine starting players last weekend during the defeat of the French XV against South Africa (17-32) to be renewed this Saturday against Fiji. Damian Penaud is one of the executives of the system set up by Fabien Galthié. The winger with 144 career tries was mentioned by his coach this Thursday, as part of the press conference presenting the starting XV.
And if Fabien Galthié was questioned about the case of Damian Penaud, it is more specifically because the latter entered the history of the French XV last Saturday despite the slap inflicted by the Springboks. Penaud has indeed broken the legendary record for the number of tries scored with the Blues by Serge Blanco. The former international had thus flattened the oval 38 times in 93 selections. Damian Penaud scored his 39th and 40th tries against the South Africans.
It is therefore on this comparison that Fabien Galthié responded, in comments relayed by RMC. “Yes, there is an innate sense of space. On the first selections in the 90s, Serge Blanco caught my attention and came to see me: ‘There you go, you know what the big thrill is’. Damian Penaud has something of Serge, it’s very Latin, French. This ability to find space intuitively. »
Damian Penaud and the Blues on the relaunch
The coach concluded by sharing the good points:
“Louis Bielle-Biarrey has that too. » Whatever happens, the Blues will have to show a better face, especially in the offensive phases, against the Fijians within their reach. This, even if Fabien Galthié estimated that against South Africa, his players “had a lot of chances during the first twenty minutes of the second half, which(they don’t have)
not transformed ».
It remains to be seen what the French XV concocted for the occasion will perform on Saturday at Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux (8:10 p.m.). This match will also be an opportunity for a troop review before the November 22 clash against Australia.
