Carried by its hinge which distributed the game perfectly, the XV of France largely won (44-0), Saturday, October 22, against Fiji on the occasion of its third and last group match. A bonus victory which allows the Habs to compost their ticket for the quarter-finals of the 2022 Rugby World Cup.
After having displayed all their defensive know-how to make England doubt until the end last weekend, the Blues have regained some of their offensive drive.“The girls tried things, trusted each other and it immediately paid off”confirmed at half-time the coach of the Bleues Thomas Darracq.
“Of course we still regret some slag near the lines, poorly controlled touches in the brand areas, but we managed to let go a little more, especially behind, against girls with very high level athletic qualities. We are very satisfied.”
Thomas Darracq, coach of the Bluesat the TF1 microphone at the end of the match
A precise and deep footwork to limit the risks and confine their opponents of the day in their camp, perfectly negotiated penalties to validate their domination by points, the Blues finally passed seven tries to the Fijians.
By using the balls carried to fix the defense (8th, 28th), by scoring in force (63rd), by finding spaces thanks to the trickery of his scrum half Pauline Bourdon, or by relying on the leg of Jessy Trémoulière, the French have found all the diversity of a palette that had sometimes failed them in recent months.
And this despite ten changes on the score sheet compared to the Crunch, and the absences of their maestro Laure Sansus (package for the rest of the competition), and of Romane Ménager. While expanding the group and mobilizing as many players as possible, Les Bleues confirmed their character and offered their most successful performance since the start of the World Cup, an element that could be important for the rest of the competition.
Caroline Drouin’s teammates will certainly keep an eye on the final matches of the group stage which will take place on Sunday morning, the results of which will confirm the name of their future opponent.