‘Wherefore art thou?’: France look to restore identity with outing to Romeo and Juliet

A night at the opera may not be to every Frenchman’s taste these days, but for Fabien Galthié the outing will have been an integral part of his team’s Six Nations finale preparations.

Two evenings out from their clash against England, Les Bleus were set to leave their training camp to watch rehearsals for a performance of the ballet Romeo and Juliet at the Opéra Garnier in central Paris. “It’s important for us to take a step back,” the head coach explained. “We’re going to be meeting the lead dancers, watching them at work, speaking to them, and experiencing that legendary venue.”

Galthié also highlighted the need for a change of scenery after seven weeks holed up in the sleepy village of Marcoussis. While he often brings in speakers from other disciplines to the training camp (for example, the former Paris Opera Ballet étoile Marie-Agnès Gillot gave a presentation to the squad in 2024), it’s rare for the head coach to take his players on a trip in to town.

The former scrum-half evidently saw a need to shake things up. Until last weekend, France were relatively undisturbed as they appeared to be marching towards an undefeated campaign. After shipping 50 points in Edinburgh and letting the grand slam slip away again, the team suddenly came under renewed criticism.

“It might have been sunny at Murrayfield,” L’Équipe’s analysis read the following day, “but the French team caught a bad cold, having been eaten up in terms of intensity and apathetic in defence”. Midi Olympique, meanwhile, simply ran with “La Claque”, the slap in the face, as their front-page headline.

The verdict among former players was also damning. In his L’Équipe column this week, Jean-Baptiste Élissalde analysed what he saw as “the 22 worst minutes of the Galthié era” at the start of the second half in Scotland. Speaking on radio channel RMC, Frédéric Michalak, now a coach at Racing 92, lamented France’s porous defence and suggested that the team may have been too “mentally relaxed” in their approach to the match.

“We are human beings,” pleaded Galthié when he faced the press at his team announcement on Thursday morning. The head coach was notably asked about Antoine Dupont’s struggles at Murrayfield, with the captain having been singled out for criticism after the match. “He’s an exceptional player. Sometimes there can be difficult moments, but it’s nothing serious. It’s all a part of the journey leading up to Saturday’s match.”

Neither England’s defeat against Italy nor the end of France’s grand slam hopes have taken any of the bite out of Le Crunch. “We’ll be facing a wounded animal,” warned centre Pierre-Louis Barassi, who starts on Saturday as a result of Nicolas Depoortère’s shoulder injury. “They’ll go all-out to try to finish on a high by denying us the title.”

“They’re even more dangerous now,” concurred Emmanuel Meafou, who has been paired with Thibaud Flament in the second row.

“A former coach once told me that an injured player can cause more damage than a fit one,” forwards coach William Servat said. “When a person feels like they’re in danger, they can do extraordinary things. I think that’s what will motivate both England and ourselves.”

“Perhaps we were a bit too comfortable in our preparations,” added Servat when asked about the defeat in Scotland. “What’s certain is that we are trying to be less comfortable in the way we approach this match.

“We didn’t dwell on the result,” Galthié said of the debacle in Edinburgh. “I don’t regret any of the choices we’ve made, they’re carefully thought out, we have the expertise for it and that’s how we operate.”

Oscar Jégou’s four-week ban for an eye gouge and Anthony Jelonch’s hamstring injury have dictated the changes made in the pack. Former captain Charles Ollivon, who was absent for the 2022 and 2025 campaigns, will be looking to win the first Six Nations title of his career from No 8.

Bordeaux’s back-row Temo Matiu, meanwhile, has been thrown into the starting XV for his first cap on the openside. “He has power, speed, and dexterity,” Galthié said of the 24-year-old. “It’s also a nod to the past, as I was on the pitch when his father, Legi, earned his first cap for France against Wales.”

In any case, France’s head coach will hope his team can get the choreography right this time round in Saturday’s final act in Paris. As staff and players alike pointed out over the week, all was not lost in Scotland. A bonus-point victory over the XV de la Rose would all-but guarantee France their first back-to-back titles in two decades.

Whether or not the players take any inspiration from their cultural outing on Thursday evening, avenging last year’s defeat at Twickenham would go some way towards reassuring fans and the press in this season’s curtain call at the Stade de France.