The refrain is known. The coach of the XV of France acts all the possible springs to avoid entering empty-handed after the 3rd Test-Match against the All Blacks, this Saturday (9 h 5) in Hamilton. Already beaten twice (31-27 in Dunedin then 43-17 in Wellington), these Blues without their main stars (Dupont, Ntamack, Bielle-Biarrey, Penaud, Ramos, Alldritt …) would need a success in the face of New Zealand who decided to carry out a serious workforce review (ten changes) for the occasion.
So, Fabien Galkié took advantage of the press conference according to the announcement of the team composition this Thursday to put pressure on arbitration. “I want us to be arbitrated like the French team, not as a small nation,” he said, citing two actions from Wellington’s defeat, the heaviest since taking office at the end of 2019, which, according to him, should have asserted a penalty test and a yellow card for the faulty New Zealand player.
“We have the impression that there is only one team that is observed in defense and attack,” he insisted, “a few minutes before the traditional meeting between the staff and the referees of the coming match. We need to be arbitrated as if we were playing on neutral terrain (he repeats) neutral. I am not used to extending on arbitration, but when I have expectations, I share them. Neutrality. »»
The Australian referee Angus Gardner under influence?
The disadvantaged Blues? The catchphrase no longer really holds. Despite the video, arbitral decisions, in rugby, still give a good place to interpretation and according to that his heart leans on one side or the other, the sanction or the absence of sanction is obviously not experienced in the same way. During the 1st test match, for example, three trials had been refused to All Blacks while two of them, at least, seemed perfectly valid.
Will this stroke of the coach influence the Australian referee Angus Gardner? The latter has already arbitrated the Blues, especially during the Six Nations Tournament. In 2024, the players of Fabien Galkié had styled the English (33-31) and on March 8, 2025, they had swept the Irish in Dublin (27-42), opening the way of the coronation in the competition. Two days before the match, already, the coach of the XV of France had warned referee Angus Gardner.
“We need a framework that allows us to exploit our strategy,” he had implored. We need to be accompanied by determining arbitration. We need to have great equity on the key points for which we have prepared this match, that is to say the phases of conquest, the fray, the balloons worn … “Two days later, the result had been in line with its expectations. Bis repetita?