She is more than ever in everyone’s mind. Postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Women’s Rugby World Cup will take place on New Zealand soil in September 2022. The autumn tour that Les Bleues begins on Saturday November 6 (at 3 p.m. live on France2 and france.tv) against South Africa, before a double confrontation against the reigning world champions, the Black Ferns (female equivalent of the All Blacks), must allow “to make a first assessment”, according to Thomas Darracq, sports manager of the Bleues since July. “Whatever the result, even if we hope it will be positive, it will set the stage for a construction towards the World Cup”.
Behind the scenes, the switch to the World Cup has already started for several months. With this in mind, the Landais, former head of the France women’s pole, came to expand the staff around the coach Annick Hayraud. He was quickly joined by Vincent Peducasse, former video analyst for Stade Montois and SU Agen. While France 7 shone in Tokyo, the group of the XV has chained the summer courses, integrating in its gatherings players of the pole to continue to probe the whole of the French reservoir. “There is a federal project to detect high potentials and make them grow. We are not lucky enough to have many intermediate categories to follow the girls in the French teams, so this follow-up and this mixture are essential”, relates Thomas Darracq.
Facing South Africa, they will also be three to experience a first cap at XV: the left pillar, Coco Lindelauf (20 years old), and the pair of centers Chloé Jacquet (silver medalist in Tokyo at 7) and Marie Dupouy (19 years old). The team lined up from the outset will have an average age of 23 for 17 caps. A large turnover in the face of an affordable team which should allow the less experienced to find their feet in ideal conditions. Even if the staff calls for “to remain vigilant” versus “an emerging nation on which we do not have a lot of information”, cthe choice is also “a way of highlighting those that are performing today”, underlines Thomas Darracq. But not only. Integrating as many players as possible into the project is essential to achieve results.
A team cannot be reduced to a titular XV. The World Cup is 30 players, not 15. That means you have to see more than 30 to make a selection. And we are never safe from injury, we must guard against that and underperformance.
Thomas Darracq, sports manager for Les Bleuesto franceinfo: sport
After seasons cut short by the coronavirus, the France team has no time to waste to seek a historic result for tricolor rugby in a few months. “A year goes by extremely quickly, attests the opener of the Bleues and silver medalist at 7 in Tokyo, Caroline Drouin. We don’t have a thousand chances to match, so these three games are going to be very important. We have the chance to be able to face the best of the best, it’s a very good opportunity to prepare for the World Cup. “ What is done best are the Black Ferns, 2nd in the world, (with England, 1st in the world, which the Blue will find in the Six Nations).
A perfect opportunity to measure yourself against a revengeful team. The French remain on two victories, 25-16 in the Super Series and 30-27 in Grenoble in front of 17,000 people, while they had never previously overthrown the New Zealand women. “It’s a confrontation that the staff absolutely wanted: measuring against the best nations is crucial to achieve the goal that is the World Cup. We meet regularly with the English, it is essential for us in our progress of meet the Blacks and I think it was a shared desire. “
We have the ambition to play two big games and to position ourselves strongly on the world stage, to make an impression. It’s part of a little psychological fight from a distance that we lead with other nations.
Thomas darracqto franceinfo: sport
In this quest for performance, the France group can also count on the contribution of the former captain of the Bleues, Gaëlle Mignot, who has lived through three World Cups and is now a coach at the Montpellier training center. World Rugby has opened the possibility of an additional reinforcement of a coach in the staffs for the World Cup to support the development of women’s rugby. An undeniable asset for Caroline Drouin. “She has been a player, she has lived great moments with this jersey, she knows what we need, what a player expects from her staff. In times that are a little more tense as the competitions approach, she will have more easily the right words. It’s super enriching for the group to have their feedback and their advice. “
“It’s the home stretch, there is inevitably more stress, pressure, fatigue, lists Gaëlle Mignot. The girls want to perform well in the club, at the same time, they know that the list will fall late, that there will inevitably be disappointments. It’s the kind of season where you are always on your toes. With the staff, we work on the smallest detail to put them in the best possible conditions to get this coronation “, adds the former international hooker.
One more card in the hand of the France group, therefore, whose morale was racing thanks to the money won during the Tokyo Games. “It shows that the France group is progressing, that all of French women’s rugby is gaining momentum”, believes Gaëlle Mignot.
And the XV will be able to count on two silver medalists, Drouin and Jacquet, to embark their teammates in their wake. “Obviously we gained a lot of experience and confidence in this Covid year, having to prepare for such a deadline under these conditions, fits Caroline Drouin. This taste for victory, this experience, we want to pass it on to experience this kind of moment with the XV. With this Olympic medal, we broke down a door, now we know that anything is possible. ” Even dreaming of the first coronation in the history of French rugby.