The public was warm, in the stands of the Hameau de Pau stadium (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) on the occasion of this shock of the autumn tour between the French women’s rugby team and New Zealand, and it was served ! The French beat the reigning world champions 38-13, scoring 6 tries to 1 for their opponents.
– Manon Claverie
The match was almost sold out: 12,000 spectators set the mood for 80 minutes.
A victory that feels good at 1 year of the World Cup
One year before the women’s rugby world cup, this is the second big success for Les Bleues in this autumn tour after their victory against South Africa last week (46 to 3!). After the match the 3rd row Romane Ménager retained “the commitment, the fact of having managed to hold the whole match at this intensity. It’s reassuring, we felt in good shape and the match reflected it”.
But for scrum half Caroline Drouin, “the big piece remains the English”, which they will face in February during the 6 Nations tournament. “We know they are first but we are on the right track to find them and become the first nation ourselves”.