Fabien Galthie hailed France’s resolve to come from behind and beat Scotland on Saturday after a week of criticism back home for their Six Nations opening loss to Ireland.
France held off Scotland for a scrappy 20-16 win at Murrayfield after a controversial TMO call not to award the hosts a try with the last action of the game on Saturday.
The result brought relief for embattled head coach Galthie after Les Bleus were humbled 38-17 by the Irish in Marseille last week.
“This is a sport of combat, you have to be combative. One has to accept that there are times of adversity,” said Galthie, whose side have still only lost to Ireland in their last 12 Six Nations matches.
“We dealt with that this week. We lose together, we suffer together, we win together.”
Les Bleus are suffering a hangover from failing to win the World Cup for the first time on home soil last year.
RECAP: France edge Scotland in dramatic win
France were again far from their best in a performance littered with handling errors in the wet Edinburgh conditions.
Galthie, though, said a victory was what mattered most to keep their chances of winning the championship alive, should Ireland slip up.
“Given the context, it is OK,” added Galthie. “We are not here to give demonstrations of perfect rugby, we are here to win matches.”
Scotland thought they had snatched victory at the death on Saturdaybut the video referee could not find conclusive proof to overturn referee Nic Berry’s on-field call of no try after adjudging the ball not to have been grounded by Rory Darge over the line.
Both sets of players and fans were left in suspense for more than four minutes as they waited for the officials to decide the fate of the match.
“It is very good for the suspense and audience,” said Galthie with more than a hint of sarcasm when asked for his opinion on the decision.
“It is very good to check the television for four minutes. The advertising and the show is up. At the end we are happy.”
© Agence France-Presse
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