Fabien Galthie follows Steve Borthwick with Ireland mind games as France boss calls for ‘fair’ officiating
France boss Fabien Galthie has followed Steve Borthwick’s lead in putting pressure on the match officials ahead of their Six Nations game against Ireland.
The meeting at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin is likely to be a title decider with the two top-ranked teams on the table going toe-to-toe and Galthie hopes that the officials will make decisive and consistent decisions.
Pressure on officials
He is not the first coach to apply the pressure on the referees with Borthwick doing similar for the round one fixture between England and Ireland.
New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe took charge of that encounter and Borthwick pressed for the defending champions to be officiated sharply at the breakdown.
“I think you saw Ireland’s attack on the opposition breakdown – you see the same thing with Leinster,” Borthwick told reporters ahead of the match.
“What’ll be interesting is how that is officiated.
“World Rugby talked last week about some factors of how they want that officiated and making sure it’s legal and within the laws. That’s going to be an important area for our referee on the day.”
France boss Galthie has followed suit with another Southern Hemisphere referee taking the whistle for the match, Australia’s Angus Gardner.
He wants his team to be fearless in Dublin in the manner in which they attack and defend and is keen for the officials to show “fairness”.
“We can defend by attacking but also attack by defending, what is important is that we can play our rugby,” he said. “The opponent will try to stop us, but we need a framework to develop our strategy.
“At this level, we expect to be supported by decisive refereeing, and consistency in reading situations. We have worked with the referees on their expectations, but also ours.
“What is tolerated? What is not? We need to have great fairness on the key points. We want to be judged fairly on the scrum, the defence and on the reading of the breakdown.
“We want to have our say on the tempo of the match and its balance in key phases. We want to get along with the referees.”
James Lowe controversy in 2023
Galthie pointed to James Lowe’s try in the previous meeting between the two sides in Dublin. It looked as if the winger’s foot brushed the touchline before he dived over in the corner to score a pivotal try in Ireland’s 32-19 victory.
“Remember the reading made on James Lowe’s try two years ago! We want to feel comfortable in a fantastic context that the Aviva Stadium represents,” Galthie added.
The decision proved highly controversial at the time with even Lowe admitting that he was sure that it would not be given.
“No, I didn’t know that my foot was out and fortunately when you’re at home at Lansdowne Road…” he said.
He added: “Oh I thought I put the ball down on the line but obviously, like the curvature. I saw it from a bird’s-eye view and I thought, ‘Ah!’
“Don’t worry about the foot! The ball was out, man! I didn’t know at the time that my foot was out.
“At home, you get the rub of the green sometimes. Away from home, I don’t think it was going to be a try so you take it when you can.
“I know even without it you could scratch those seven points off and we still win but in the biggest games you do need a little bit of luck to go your way.”
