Fabien GALTHIÉ

Biog of Fabien GALTHIÉ :

Fabien Galthié is the only Frenchman to have played in four World Cups, although in reality he was only selected initially for two of them, in 1991 and 2003 at the start and end of his career. Twelve years of chaos, injuries and periods when he was overlooked separated these two events. Nonetheless Galthié had his fair share of luck as well, as if destiny was attempting to make up for all the hard times. And at the end of the day he will be remembered for his 64 caps (24 as captain), “his” 2002 Grand Slam (when he had only played a bit part in the 1997 and 1998 Grand Slams), the late call-ups for the 1995 and 1998 World Cups and his World Cup performances (semi-final 1995 and 2003 final in 1999).

If there had been a few good times before the 1999 World Cup, this tournament marked the turning point for Galthié - at 30 years old! Galthié was not ready when he was first selected for France in 1991, a pawn in a political game to oust his predecessor, Pierre Berbizier, and he proved not up to the task. Then there was the bleak period from 1993-1995, brought to an end with a last minute call-up for the semi-final of the 1995 World Cup. Galthié missed out on the 1997 and 1998 Grand Slams because of a knee injury and was not initially selected for the 1999 World Cup, in which he would nevertheless shine. Two twists of fate, two injuries to Carbonneau and Mignoni, and everything changed. Galthié had had his share of twists of fate and here were two more but this time they opened the path all the way to the quarter-final of the World Cup against Argentina. Fabien Pelous writes “He took control of the pack straight away. He led. He knew where he was going. The coaches’ credo was total rugby. Fabien, who had been forced to observe things from outside the team, complemented this playing style by providing the framework that we needed. (He) had his hands firmly on the steering wheel.”*

By the end of the World Cup Galthié had become the indispensable leader of the French game plan and would stay that way for the next four years. In the eight years leading up to the 1999 World Cup he had won 26 caps; he would win 38 more in the four years to come. From the 2000 Six Nations tournament onwards Galthié became Laporte’s right-hand man and was made captain in June 2001 up until the 2003 World Cup semi-final defeat against England under the Brisbane rain. It was not the first rainy semi-final Galthié had known - he was present eight years earlier for the daylight robbery against the Springboks in the Durban downpour when the referee, Bevan, refused two French tries, his own and that of Benazzi.

In the course of his career Galthié played in some of the greatest French victories, such as the wins against New Zealand in the 1999 World Cup, Marseille in 2000, South Africa in Johannesburg in 2001 and the 2002 Grand Slam. But he also knew some of their worst defeats including the 54-7 loss to New Zealand in Wellington in 1999, the 10-52 rout against South Africa at the Parcs des Princes, the defeat at the hands of Argentina in Nantes in 1992 and losses to England in the 1991 World Cup at the Parcs des Princes, the 2003 World Cup as well as the 48-19 drubbing at Twickenham in 2001.

Galthié, the most-capped French scrum-half in history, playing with no less than 16 different fly-halves throughout his career and voted the 2002 IRB World player of the year, ended his career following the defeat against England on 16 November 2003 that abruptly brought to a halt the French World Cup campaign that had showed so much promise. In the pool stages and the quarter-finals the French team had recorded five victories, scoring 247 points in the process. Just five months before his international retirement Galthié had  won the French championship with Stade Français having missed out on the 2000 final with his previous and one-and-only (almost) club, Colomiers (1981-2000), with whom he had nevertheless disputed a European final (defeat against Ulster) in 1999.

After a time in sports marketing with Havas Sport, Galthié returned to the rugby fold in 2004 as coach for Stade Français, taking the team to domestic and European finals in his first year and winning the Brennus Shield in 2007. Between 2008 and 2010 Galthié concentrated on his new media career as rugby pundit for France Télévisions, Europe 1 and L’Équipe newspaper, and his role as consultant for the Argentina national team. In July 2010 he started coaching in the Top 14 again at Montpellier.

*118 vies Prolongation editions, p102