[Source: Reuters]

Fabien Galthie was given unprecedented resources to help France win their maiden World Cup title, yet Les Bleus failed at the first big hurdle, but the head coach will continue his quest with the backing of the federation (FFR).

Galthie had 42 players at his disposal for every training camp, a 50-strong staff, including a top referee on the payroll, but France bowed out in the quarter-finals, beaten 29-28 by defending champions South Africa.

The agreement between the French federation and the league, who manage the Top 14, runs until the next World Cup, and while changes will be made within the staff, there will be no cutbacks on budget despite financial difficulties.

Assistant coaches Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal are leaving and being replaced by (backs coach) Patrick Aletazza and (assistant forwards coach) Laurent Sempere while head of performance Thibault Giroud and doctor Phiippe Turblin are also exiting.

Defence coach Shaun Edwards and general manager Raphael Ibanez are staying.

“I’m not bothered by the fact that we’re registering a 16 million euro ($16.88 million) deficit in 2022-23 and that the 2023-24 deficit will be around 20 million euros,” FFR president Florian Grill told Reuters on Tuesday.

“Fabien (Galthie) is the man of the situation. We cannot forget what has been done in the last four years because we lost that game (against South Africa) by one point.”

“When I was head coach, we also lost by one point against South Africa (18-17 in a test match in 2017) and it was a catastrophe,” Guy Noves, France coach in 2016-17, told L’Equipe.

“I know that Galthie has had unimaginable resources, that there had never been so many resources.”

Those resources will still be available to Galthie and his staff, Grill said.

“The FFR and the LNR (league) speak with one voice. The World Cup has been a success and we’re expecting an increase of the number of rugby licence by 15 or 20% by December,” he explained.

“I am not worried at all, we will continue to work hand in hand.”

The biggest room for improvement, according to Grill, is to work on France’s influence within World Rugby, the sport’s governing body.

“We’ve been absent for the working commission. We can’t have a coach that precise, who has such a scientific approach and ourselves not do the work to have influence,” Grill said.

France players criticised Ben O’Keeffe’s refereeing in their defeat by South Africa, and Grill believes no stone must be left unturned in a sport where working with the officials is key to understanding how a match will be refereed.

“We cannot be naive,” he said. “We need to be more influential from a political point of view. We haven’t been influential by lack of work.”

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