Why France must change as Les Bleus need to confront ‘difficult truth’ after ‘missed opportunity’ in New Zealand
Reasons France must change.
France’s defeat to South Africa a fortnight ago, another bruising encounter where physicality, cohesion, and Test-hardened resilience proved decisive, wasn’t only a loss on the scoreboard; moreover was a stark reminder that the current French rugby model, for all its domestic brilliance and individual flair, is not delivering at the highest level. It’s not the first time – it cost them a World Cup in 2023 – and unless things change, it certainly won’t be the last.
The Springboks, with their centralised contracts, aligned calendars, and relentless Test exposure, once again exposed the gap between club excellence and international readiness.
Now France must now confront a difficult truth; unless the system changes, the results won’t – let’s examine the reasons why.
Too many games, too few Tests: France’s structural rugby imbalance
France’s elite rugby players are being asked to shoulder a workload that is not only unparalleled among tier one nations, but increasingly unsustainable in both physical and strategic terms. The Top 14 season, which begins in early September and stretches deep into late June, comprises 26 regular rounds, European pool stages, knockout fixtures, and domestic play-offs that often extend into the summer months. For clubs such as Toulouse, Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Racing 92, who consistently reach the latter stages of both domestic and continental competitions, the cumulative match count for their internationals routinely exceeds 30 games per season, and when you factor in the Six Nations, summer tours and the Autumn Nations Series, the total climbs to 38-42 matches for some players, with minimal recovery windows and relentless intensity. As a simple example (and yes, he’s Argentinian!) Juan Cruz Mallia played 37 games for Toulouse last season – an absolutely insane workload.
This is not merely a question of quantity; it is a question of the quality and tempo of those matches. The Top 14’s bonus point system actively incentivises high-tempo, collision-heavy rugby, and the league’s physicality is arguably unmatched anywhere in the world. GPS data from the 2024–25 season revealed that Top 14 forwards averaged 28 high-impact collisions per match, compared to 21 in Premiership Rugby and just 19 in Super Rugby. Backline players routinely covered upwards of 8.6km per game, with sprint efforts peaking at 45 per match for explosive wingers like Damian Penaud. The cumulative toll on the body is immense. France’s stars are not just playing more, but critically they are playing harder, longer, and under greater physiological and psychological strain than their counterparts in England, New Zealand or South Africa.
Fabien Galthié has not ignored this reality but structurally, there’s not much he can do about it as he doesn’t own the players. In 2025, he made the calculated decision to leave up to 20 frontline players behind for the tour to New Zealand, citing the need to manage load and protect long-term development. This was not a one-off – it was a strategic concession to a structural problem that continues to undermine France’s Test ambitions. The domestic calendar, dictated by the LNR, overrides international priorities, and the national team is increasingly shaped not by coaching intent, but by club-driven availability.
A lean Test calendar and its consequences
France’s Test calendar remains lean, and in comparative terms, insufficient when compared to those of other nations. In 2025, Les Bleus played just eight full internationals: five in the Six Nations and three in the Autumn Nations Series. The summer tour to New Zealand featured three Tests, but the squad was second, maybe even third-string, with most frontline players rested or unavailable due to injury. By contrast, South Africa played 12 Tests in the same window, including Rugby Championship fixtures, a European tour, and structured warm-ups. New Zealand and England also exceed France’s Test count annually, with more consistent exposure to high-level international rugby.
The implications are clear and increasingly problematic. France’s top players are match-hardened in the Top 14, but not Test-hardened. They spend their time recovering, hanging on, patching themselves together for the next brutal domestic encounter. The rhythms of Test rugby, its tempo shifts, its psychological demands, its strategic depth, require regular exposure – a peak of stress with plenty of rest in between, as the Springboks have proven. Without it, cohesion suffers, decision-making under pressure becomes erratic, combinations lack fluency. France’s players are brilliant in bursts, capable of moments of individual brilliance, but they lack the consistency, reference points, rest and resilience that comes from sustained professional Test-level competition.
Summer tours: A strategic blind spot
The 2025 tour to New Zealand was, in many ways, a missed opportunity. France sent a development squad, leaving behind Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, Charles Ollivon, Francois Cros, Gregory Alldritt, Peato Mauvaka, Penaud and Thomas Ramos. The rationale; player welfare, club commitments, and long-term planning, together with the Top 14 final between two top clubs, Bordeaux and Toulouse, was sound, but the outcome was predictable; three defeats, no wins, and limited tactical learning. Summer tours should be the crucible for Test development, a platform for the proving ground for combinations, leadership, and adaptability under foreign pressure.
This is not a new pattern. The 2021 tour to Australia followed the same model and France has used summer tours to rotate, rest, and experiment. That strategy has merit, especially in a congested calendar, but it must be balanced. The All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies use these windows to test their best against the best and in order to compete France must do the same. Development must be embedded within competition, not isolated from it.
Fatigue, injury, and the cost of overexposure
France has not fielded a fully fit first-choice squad in over two years, and the injury list ahead of the 2025 Autumn Nations Series was sobering: Dupont (ACL), Ollivon (ACL), Mauvaka (ACL), Uini Atonio (knee), Cros (knee), Baptiste Couilloud (groin), Jonathan Danty (calf), Gabin Villière (concussion), and a number of others. The Six Nations campaign earlier in the year was similarly disrupted. Ollivon missed the entire tournament. Dupont was ruled out with a cruciate ligament injury. Jelonch, Matthieu Jalibert, and Danty were all unavailable at various points.
This is not coincidence, it is the consequence of the brutal work overload, lack of rest and sheer pressure of the physical domestic commitments. The cumulative impact of overexposure, short recovery windows, and the relentless demands of the Top 14 are manifesting in chronic injury cycles. France’s medical and conditioning teams are world-class, but they are firefighting and it’s clear that the squad is rarely intact and critically, combinations are rarely stable. The result is a Test team that is always adapting, always compensating, and never settled. Injury management must become strategic, not reactive and in order to succeed, France must build depth, but also protect its core talent – and that’s something they’re failing to do.
Insane depth, underused potential
What makes this imbalance all the more frustrating is the sheer depth of France’s talent pool; a player resource that is arguably unrivalled in world rugby with the exception of South Africa. The conveyor belt of elite players emerging from the academies of Toulouse, Clermont, Lyon, and Pau is relentless. In 2025 alone, France debuted five players under the age of 22 who had already played over 20 Top 14 matches and featured in European knockout rounds. The likes of Emilien Gailleton, Léo Barré, and Nicolas Depoortère are becoming Test-ready but they’re not finding the level of opportunity, nor the rest, recovery and peak performance periods to be truly elite rugby athletes.
France has the luxury of rotating without a drop in quality, but that depth must be harnessed with strategic clarity – it is not enough to simply have options. Those options must be integrated, tested, and trusted in meaningful fixtures, where patterns, relationships, trust and tactical precision emerge. The current model, where depth compensates for injury rather than drives competition, is reactive. France must shift to a proactive model, where squad rotation is planned, combinations are rehearsed, and young talent is blooded in environments that simulate test intensity.
The Top 14’s dominance: A cultural and structural challenge
The Top 14 remains the dominant force in French rugby. An amazing proposition, the toughest league in the world, it drives revenue, dictates scheduling, and shapes player availability. The league’s influence is structural and the localised passion for domestic clubs is absolutely unrivalled anywhere else.
However, the LNR sets the calendar, clubs control player release ande st windows are negotiated, not guaranteed – almost an afterthought. In 2025, Top 14 fixtures clashed with France’s Test matches on multiple weekends – five of them to be precise. The final took place just days before the first Test against New Zealand and the Autumn Nations Series overlapped with domestic rounds. Players were asked to switch codes, switch intensity, and switch focus with minimal preparation, parachuted in to an international system that lack preparation and cohesion.
The imbalance is cultural as well as logistical. Clubs are the primary employers and players are loyal to their cities, their coaches, and their teammates, with a strong sense of regional and historical identity. Test rugby is aspirational, but not always prioritised and that must change. France’s World Cup ambitions depend on a Test-first model and they need to acknowledge that the All Blacks, Springboks and England have centralised contracts, aligned calendars, and unified player pathways- and to succeed, France must move in that direction. The Top 14 is a jewel, but it must serve the national team, not compete with it.
Conclusion: Strategic realignment or strategic decline
France’s rugby ecosystem is rich in talent, passion, and infrastructure, but it’s structurally misaligned, and increasingly at odds with the demands of modern Test rugby. The Top 14 delivers spectacle and revenue, for sure, but at the cost of player welfare, Test cohesion, and long-term strategic clarity.
To compete consistently at the highest level, France have to recalibrate; no longer the bridesmaid, but a proud bride. That means aligning club and country calendars, centralising player contracts, and embedding Test rugby as the pinnacle of the system. It means using summer tours to build, not just rest and it means protecting core players through strategic rotation, not reactive withdrawal. And above all, it means recognising that France’s insane depth is not a safety net, it is a weapon for development and resilience, but only if wielded with precision.
The 2027 World Cup is now a test of Galthie’s generational pool of brilliant player talent – and it is also a test of France’s ability to evolve. There’s little doubt the talent is there, but if France are to fulfil the enormous talent at their disposal, the structure and Test focus must follow.