Jegou – Auradou affair: “I don’t speak of them in the imperfect, they are still part of our nuggets”, Fabien Galthié looks back on a special tour

Fabien Galthié a mis les choses au point. MAXPPP – Andrew Matthews

Interrogé par Midi Olympique, le sélectionneur des Bleus est revenu sur l’affaire qui a secoué le rugby français, en Argentine, alors que les Bleus sont rentrés en France lundi.

The shock was immense, the day after a nice success against Argentina (13-28), on July 6, for Fabien Galthié and the XV of France. "The police arrived, asked us for the passports of Oscar and Hugo", confides the coach in a long interview tuned to Midi Olympique.

The rest of the events ? "I listened a lot to Oscar and Hugo, what they had to say&quot ;, adds Galthié.

Former teammate of David Auradou, father of Hugo, at the Stade Français and in the French team, the boss of the Blues himself warned the families: "I called David (Auradou), then Marie (his wife). I had Marie first because David was sleeping. And I also called Oscar’s dad. That's the first thing I did."

🔴🇫🇷 Dans un entretien exclusif pour Midi Olympique, le sélectionneur des Bleus est revenu sur cette tournée cauchemar en Argentine, marquée par les affaires Jaminet et Jegou-Auradou. Il raconte comment le groupe France a vécu ces moments.

L'interview > https://t.co/BfJrIb0PW2 pic.twitter.com/NwGxKfTVkv

— RUGBYRAMA (@RugbyramaFR) July 16, 2024

In the turmoil with his group, the coach also had to juggle between the sportsman and the human. "Fortunately, the president of the Federation Florian Grill and his vice-president Jean-Marc Lhermet arrived on Monday evening, a few hours after Oscar and Hugo were transferred to the police station, he explains. In the meantime, we had made good progress with Agustin Pichot and Rodrigo Roncero who had found us a lawyer. They also explained to us the context in Argentina, how it was going to happen."

While respecting the presumption of innocence, the technician has, all the same, not given up his intimate conviction and calls for "to do everything possible with the FFR and the various institutions, to help Argentine justice do its job well.

Also read: Jegou-Auradou affair: the two players are "calm because they know they are innocent" says their lawyer

In recent years, Fabien Galthié has given a second chance to several players who have had problems with the law, we think of Montpellier's Mohamed Haouas and Bastien Chalureau or, already, Oscar Jégou, suspended at the start season after testing positive for cocaine.

"It’is the very essence of being a society. It’s like on a field. A player can make a mistake once, twice and the third time he can make the right move", says Galthié.

Melvyn Jaminet, whose guilt cannot be proven after the racist video published on his Instagram account, was excluded from the gathering and will have to face a disciplinary committee from the Federation but also of his club: RC Toulon. As for Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, we will have to wait for the outcome of the investigation.

"We won the tour"

"I'm not talking about them in the imperfect tense. They are still part of our nuggets, specifies the coach about them. They were very good in Mendoza in the first Test."

A 28-13 victory in the first Test, another 43-28 success, during the week in Uruguay with a reshuffled team, and a setback in the final match, against Argentina , last Saturday (33-25), allowed the Blues to win this tour, a consolation prize for the coach: "On a sporting level, we won the tour and we beat Uruguay. These are the facts. We also improved our methodology. The staff has progressed enormously and still has very clear and identified prospects for development.