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Fabien Galthie not expecting Scotland in the quarter-finals
By Ian Cameron
France head coach Fabien Galthie has implied that he doesn’t expect to face Scotland in the quarter-finals, despite Gregor Townsend’s men still being one of three possible knockout-stage opponents.
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Les Bleus booked their place in the Rugby World Cup knockout stage in style with a 60-7 romp over the Azzurri, who now exit the tournament.
Only a monumental defeat would have seen the hosts crash out, but that was never going to happen as Les Bleus ran in eight tries.
Damian Penaud (2), Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Thomas Ramos all crossed the line in the first half, with Matthieu Jalibert, Peato Mauvaka and Yoram Moefana (2) adding second-half efforts as they ran riot with a record-breaking win over their opponents.
It sets up a quarter-final clash with either South Africa, Scotland or Ireland and they will be dreaming of World Cup glory on their own soil.
“It’s true it happened quickly. The match was killed off in the 20th minute. We wanted to attack the match with everything we could. You never know what’s going to happen. There are so many opportunities to be penalised, with or without the ball… By the rules, but also by your opponents.
“You can never anticipate. We have a plan, and often things don’t go according to plan. We’ve learned to adapt to the situation. It turned out better than expected. Scoring 24 points in 20 minutes was perfect.
“As long as we score and win games, that’s fine. We’re not here to demonstrate. Playing long sequences is not our objective. Taking time to score is not our objective.
“Our aim is always to win matches, and to win a match, you have to tick a number of boxes. Sometimes you score in a certain way and sometimes you don’t concede points. The important thing is to be ahead at the end. We’re not here to make clean copies, we’re here to win the match.”
Galthie is expecting either South Africa or Ireland as quarter-final opponents, with no mention of the possibility of facing Scotland.
“We’re very happy to have succeeded in this match, very happy to have succeeded in our qualifying phase, and overall our four years and our 43 matches. Tonight, we’re going to recover well together, have a good time together to celebrate qualification, and then we’ll turn our attention to the quarter-final, which, after playing a first World Cup final against New Zealand in the opening match, will be a second World Cup final.
“We’re delighted to have qualified for this stage. But we know that our next fixture is a second World Cup final.”
“Whoever the opponent, for us it’s clearly a World Cup final. On the one hand, the reigning world champions, who have prepared for back-to-back titles, and on the other, the world number ones. The draw has done its job; it’s up to us to do ours.”
additional reporting Press Assoiciation
Ireland will smash Scotland & they won’t get out of the RWC group stages for the 2nd tournament in a row.