The XV of France started the 2023 Six Nations Tournament on a high note by dominating Italy (22-12) on Sunday.
Under a downpour and in pain, the French women’s team launched its 2023 Six Nations Tournament. Les Bleues won against Italy (22-12), Sunday March 26 in Parma, in conclusion of the first day. A long victory to be confirmed since it was necessary to wait for Caroline Boujard’s liberating try, five minutes from the end of the match, to see the players of Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz come away definitively.
WE LIKED
A dominating scrum
“We want our conquest to be an element that allows us to climb the ladder.” At a press conference on Friday, Gaëlle Mignot, the co-selector, previously assistant in charge of the scrum, had insisted on this sector of play. In Parma, her players proved that they had perfectly integrated her instructions. The Italians lost two scrums on their introduction and were penalized six times in this area.
A tricolor domination which was rewarded offensively since the first two tries, by Gabrielle Vernier (25th) and Carla Arbez (34th), followed a closed scrum. “We responded to the scrum sector. It allowed us to start the game and move forward by putting the Italian team in difficulty”underlined Gaëlle Mignot in a post-match press conference.
The winning return of Caroline Boujard
Eleven months later, Caroline Boujard found the tricolor jersey. Absent to the general surprise of the selection for the World Cup, the 29-year-old Montpellier player made her return to the wing for the first time since April 30, 2022.
If she did not start her meeting in the best way by leaving her partners at fourteen (yellow card received for a high tackle), the winger distinguished herself at the end of the meeting by scoring the winning try. Served by Jessy Trémoulière, she mischievously avoided the opposing tackle to flatten in a corner (75th). An almost perfect comeback.
A mandate that starts well
Starting a new era is never easy, so we will remember the victory for the first meeting of the new duo of coaches, Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz. Already present in the staff of former coach Thomas Darracq since May 2022, they succeeded him in December, after the third place acquired during the World Cup during which internal tensions had erupted.
Failing to be fluid offensively, the new version of the Bleues were solid and united in defense. “We’re starting a new cycle, a new project, so we really have to adapt to this new game, commented Pauline Bourdon, scrum half of the XV of France, at the microphone of France Télévisions. I think we’re going to build a crescendo throughout the competition.”
WE DIDN’T LIKE
Too many hand faults
Twenty hand faults. This is the big black spot of the day for the Blues, who lost a lot of ammunition in attack. Admittedly, the heavy rain that fell on Parma in the second period did not help pass the ball on, but they already had five losses after the first quarter of an hour, when the weather conditions were good. “Odid not miss. It will come, we had sequences which could have ended if we had been more effective in the scoring areas., admitted co-manager David Ortiz after his team’s success. A speech shared by Gaëlle Mignot: “We still lack precision by wanting to go too fast sometimes, with stupidly lost balls.”
The misplaced offensive bonus
In a Six Nations Tournament which could be summed up as a duel between France and England – who will face each other at Twickenham on the last day – the offensive bonus point would not have been too much on Sunday. He missed a try for new captain Audrey Forlani’s teammates to pocket it. Les Bleues, however, spent most of the second period in the Italian camp without managing to be effective. “The absence of the offensive bonus? It is a frustration, more than a failure. Of course, we would have preferred to have the bonus, but we build ourselves, we get to know each other for the most part, explained Marine Ménager to The Team. Obviously, we are frustrated, but we did not expect to win easily with the bonus point.