Women's Six Nations: Les Bleues make progress but still far from the English

Undeniable progress but a crippling “lack of control”: the French women’s XV, beaten on Saturday in Bordeaux for the thirteenth time in a row by the English (42-21) in the Six Nations tournament, still has work to do in eighteen months before the World Cup in 2025.

In front of a record crowd, at the Chaban-Delmas stadium in Bordeaux, for a women’s rugby match in France (28,023 spectators), Manae Feleu’s teammates spent outnumbered, after the red card addressed to Assia Khalfaoui (43rd). .

But that is not the only reason for the defeat, already well over at half-time (35-14).

Clumsiness, hand errors (24!), wasted opportunities, an attempt rejected by the video… The French, who conceded twelve penalties, sinned with too much excitement and a lack of clarity.

For third row Romane Ménager, once again up to the task, “sometimes we want to play too much, that was a bit of our mistake in the tournament and it showed today”.

“The high level requires a lot of control and we obviously lacked that today,” Les Bleues co-selector David Ortiz added at a news conference. “But it’s pretty easy to adjust.”

“Unforgivable details”

More seriously, center Gabrielle Vernier, who scored the first French try (17th), described these details as “unforgivable at this level: we +screwed+ our game up in the air by ourselves, I think we only have ourselves to blame for the result . . .

“We are among the best nations in the world and we cannot conclude that in this group there are tremendous individuals,” she said, somewhat bitterly.

More clinically indeed, the English never let an opportunity to score pass when they were in the French camp.

“They punish us, crush us as soon as we make a little mistake and we have trouble doing it,” admitted scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus, unstoppable on Saturday. “And I think that’s what’s still missing between them and us.”

However, we saw some great things on the French side, with play, three quarters that tried and dared, the strikers had regained their automaticity on the touchline.

“We will be fully committed to the World Cup, we all have it in the back of our minds and tonight we also showed what we were capable of when we had the ball,” Vernier stressed.

“Collective Unity”

For the second co-selector of the Bleues Gaëlle Mignot, “the team has progressed, it is undeniable, we are not going to judge this tournament on this match. The adventure is taking shape more and more, we are lucky to have resilient players.”

But on Saturday in Chaban-Delmas, more was needed to beat the English, who struck a major blow eighteen months before “their” World Cup in 2025.

“The Red Roses” built the victory in the first half by scoring five tries. The French were never able to get back on track, especially when they returned from the dressing room, the suspension of Assia Khalfaoui, who until then had been impeccable in his commitment, but who had already received a yellow card last weekend in Wales, made the performance impossible.

However, the French continued to believe in it, playing quickly, camping in the opposite camp, pressing and pounding the English lines, until they offered a double to Marine Ménager (69th).

“We were all determined to lift the trophy, we pulled together and this is the desire we have had since the start of the tournament. It is the unity of the collective that is our strength, even when we were 14,” he said. third row Charlotte Escudero, for whom the Bleues “deserved nothing”.