Since the start of the Six Nations Tournament, many scorers have struggled against the poles. A situation that illustrates the lack of training and time that many players still suffer.
It was a totally smashed kick that finished way ahead of its target. Facing Scotland on the third day of the Six Nations Tournament, Jessy Trémoulière missed the transformation of the first tricolor try, his first attempt at the foot of the game. A missed opportunity that is not isolated. Since the start of the Six Nations Tournament, the French scorers have been in difficulty against the poles. Between them, Pauline Bourdon, Jessy Trémoulière, Morgane Bourgeois and Carla Arbez have only converted 11 of the 21 tries scored by the XV of France since the start of the competition.
A dynamic that extends to all the nations involved. With an average success rate of 52% over the first nine games played, only one out of two tries was transformed. Kicking is one of the last areas where the players still show flaws, in a game that continues to progress.
Not enough time
If the goalscorers are not successful against the posts, this can be explained in particular by a lack of time to train and work on specific techniques. The players, who have – for the most part – amateur status, do not devote their daily life to training. “When you’re at the top level, the practice time is so short. Since the players can only train in the evening, we don’t go straight to technical specificities, but rather on collective play, on the strategies”explains Laura Di Muzio, former opening half of the XV of France and consultant France Télévisions.
Under these conditions, it is difficult to repeat the technical ranges specific to each position, such as the kick. Especially since like any technical specificity, the key to progress lies in exercise and practice. “There are so many different kicks, so many different times when you have to play on foot, there are sessions in front of goal, sessions in the game”deciphers the old international.
“You have to work on it, you can’t count on talent, on an aptitude. It really requires training and repetition.”
Laura Di Muzioat franceinfo: sport
Trained by reduced staffs, the goalscorers do not always benefit from observations and corrections during their training. “I have often seen goal-scoring teammates who practiced alone, who scored alone, without any glance, without any feedback”, remembers Lénaïg Corson. The former international second line spent several seasons at Stade Rennais with two scorers from Les Bleues, Sandrine Agricole and Caroline Drouin. AT training in the blue jersey, feedback is there, but not always live. “In my last memories in the France team, we asked the goalscorers to film themselves, and they then sent the videos to the coaches”she remembers.
Put the hillers in the best conditions
These difficulties also take root in training, still in its infancy in women’s rugby, which does not facilitate the early teaching of skills, especially on foot. Some have even learned through other sports. “One of our top scorers in France, Jessy Trémoulière, started out playing football”reveals Lénaïg Corson. “We sometimes did exercises that contained a lot of footwork in training with the France team, and she dominated us, we were much less comfortable with this coordination on the foot.” A journey similar to that of Laura Di Muzio, who also started with football.
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The key to progress against the poles is therefore already identified: time and better conditions to learn and practice. “On the technical phases, high-level players do not have the time and the conditions of their male counterparts. If we had these conditions, the level of kicking game would increase dramatically”assures the former international.
For this, England is leading the way. Entirely professional since 2017, the Premier 15s, the women’s first division championship, allows players to devote themselves to work on the pitch. “There is follow-up, dedicated training during which we work on our scales, our individual technique”, says Lénaïg Corson, who has been playing for Harlequins since 2022. A footwork specialist, a former opening half, has also joined the selection staff to coach the scorers.
“Don’t change the rules”
This does not prevent the debates on kicking from returning to the front of the stage across the Channel since the start of the Tournament. Deprived of their top scorers Emily Scarratt and Zoe Harrison, injured, the Red Roses are also struggling against the poles (15 converted tries out of 31). Enough to push their coach, Simon Middleton, to propose to modify the rule to allow to approach the axis of the posts, on funds of “morphological differences” and of “physical constraints”.
Can the solution also be found in the adaptation of the game? Several former players, such as the English Katy Daley-Mclean or the Australian Ashleigh Hewson, have openly rejected the idea. “That would hide the problem”slice Laura Di Muzio “We must not change the rule under the pretext of adapting to the players, we must adapt the training conditions to allow them to progress.”