After the Men’s Tournament, brilliantly won by Fabien Galthié’s players, it’s time for the Women’s Tournament. Les Bleues enter the fray on Sunday (4 p.m. live on France 2 and france.tv) against Italy. An equally ambitious group. Thomas Darracq, in charge of the sports project of the XV of France women, told AFP that the Bleues, whose objective is to succeed the Grand Slam this year, were “taken to the next level”six months before the World Cup in New Zealand.
How can the Grand Slam achieved by the men’s XV inspire Les Bleues?
Thomas Darracq: Of course, it is a source of motivation for the whole group, which is very happy to meet again, full of enthusiasm. They are ready to meet the challenges that will come in the coming weeks. We are lucky to have a group that lives well together and can’t wait to start the competition.
Les Bleues come out of a victorious autumn tour, in particular against the New Zealanders (nicknamed the Blacks Ferns Editor’s note): what lessons have you learned for the Tournament?
Winning against Top 3 nations, as is the case with the Black Ferns, reigning world champions, who we don’t have the chance to play regularly, is very good on the mental side and it strengthens the project. . This makes it possible to record the work they do all year round, whether with us, in clubs or independently. We feel that they are progressing, they no longer have the impression of starting from scratch each time they arrive (in Marcoussis), they feel that they have moved up a notch and it shows on the ground, with a solid base.
All the ingredients seem to come together this year in this Tournament, six months before the World Cup, for Les Bleues to win…
It’s true that the calendar is favourable, with three matches taking place in France, two away, and a final, we hope, against England, for the Grand Slam… But what we tell them it’s that before that, every match is important. We obviously have the objective of winning this Tournament, of making a Grand Slam, but that means winning each match, progressing and marking our opponents. And it starts with Italy, in order to get the Tournament off to a good start. It will be with this kind of match that we will be able to see where the control of the team is, how it will manage to manage it.