She is a very active 30-year-old woman in sportswear that we meet. Audrey Abadie is a player, trainer and specialized educator. The opener from Blagnac, trained in Bigorre, enjoyed national favor from 2015 to 2020. Before coaching the U18s of the French team, of which she trains three quarters. In 2017, at the World Cup in Ireland, the French women finished third. About thirty selections later, she looks at the world competition which will begin on October 8 in New Zealand, and the chances of the Tricolores including nine Blagnacaises and five Toulouse.
You who have known the intensity of a World Cup, how are the last days before the start?
These are the best moments because we worked for several months on intense physical preparation, collective benchmarks. So there to be on the spot, to discover the grounds, the environment, they must feast. A little apprehensive I imagine, but above all excitement and they are well enough surrounded not to fall into negative stress which would disturb them.
They are in rugby country. They are not favorites. Can something happen, a positive alchemy?
Completely ! Leaving favorite is never very good and it’s not French! But being an outsider in the country of rugby can only be positive and I think it will sting them a little too. And they didn’t necessarily do well on their tour before they left. So they will be keen to prove their existence in the country of rugby.
You know them well, how do they feel?
I do not hide from you that they really pick up jet lag (+11h)! But they are super excited. Mostly I have news from the young people and Marjorie Mayans. They are ready in their heads, I hope they will all be wired at the right time for October 8, to do well against South Africa.
Things are slowly changing in women’s rugby regarding money. It’s good like that too, the money could kill the family spirit that exists
They are not favourites, what can we expect for them?
It’s still rugby matches. So it’s fine on paper to make theories, but in a match, anything can happen. They will come out of the chicken I’m sure, and after that it’s in the mind. Anything can happen, I’m sure of it. It is better to lose against the English in a group match (note: second game of the French, October 15) and win them in the semi-finals or finals. Everything can happen.
Women’s rugby is starting to fill stadiums but has yet to explode. What is missing ? A line on the list of winners of the Bleues?
Yes, 2014 had already been a great springboard for French women’s rugby (semi-final lost against the Canadians). Then 2017, we were third, we go up step by step. It is clear that if they manage to achieve a good result in New Zealand, women’s rugby will take on even more importance. You have to attract the media, the appeal of the TV channels, and that goes through the results. And then a result at national level will perhaps have an impact on the financial consideration of players who in clubs are not professional, they do not receive a salary, for four training sessions a week after work or studies. The exception is the thirty girls from the France team who are paid by the French Rugby Federation. But 30 or 35 girls paid to play rugby among all those who play in clubs, it’s derisory. The clubs are making efforts to give small bonuses but we are far very far from what the boys have, even if the gap is narrowing. For example, we see girls having advertising contracts. But let’s keep our feet on the ground: money does not buy happiness and could kill the values of women’s rugby as they exist today.
The girls’ game has evolved as well. Some are sometimes surprised by the technicality, does that annoy you?
Yes, there are still stereotypes that are hard to erase. Here again, the more we gain in technique, in beautiful passes, the more we will be publicized.
– Blagnac Rugby
In the group of the XV of France during this World Cup, there are nine Blagnacaises out of 32 players. How do you explain it?
I want to say that Blagnac lives well (laughs). There is a lot of work that has been done on training in recent years, it is paying off. Geoffrey Slimane also did a great job of detecting nuggets. Afterwards, in Blagnac, we were a little unlucky in the championship, we lost in the semi-finals or in the final for a few years. But I think that shows how well Blagnac’s training and the job that has been done is done. So it affects the French team. I also have a thought for the four other Blagnacaises who had been pre-selected and who did not leave.
In Blagnac, we don’t have a lot of money but we are a bit like a family
Does this now mean that young players in the region have more interest in playing at Blagnac than at Stade Toulousain?
No, we can’t say that because Stade Toulousain won the last French championship for girls. After that it’s quite personal, me as a player, I find myself more in Blagnac. We represent a bit of the “family” side of rugby and “old-fashioned” rugby. There are not huge cash inflows, but we live well, we are happy to be together. But it depends on what the girls are looking for, their state of mind. You have to please everyone, and I wouldn’t say that Blagnac is better than Stade Toulousain. Maybe there was a time of rivalry but now we are all friends outside, there are affinities and there is no squabbling between the two clubs. We’re not going to puncture our tires at the end of a match! In addition, coaches and sports directors are friends.
“No huge cash inflows” you say to Blagnac, but you still have a shareholder, Frédéric Michalak?
Yes, you have to support the girls in Elite 1 and the boys in National, it’s big budgets. And then our partners and our sponsors bring us comfort. The spectators too, it is no longer “Dad and Mom” who fill the stands, there is the gentleman who will have seen the poster at the Blagnac market and who will also come out of curiosity. Blagnac is growing slowly compared to Stade Toulousain with their big team in the Top 14. The funds are not the same. Afterwards, we must continue to exist through our training, through our results in Elite1 and in hopes. We have reached a certain level. We have to perpetuate it and keep this same state of mind and this same desire to take Blagnac to the highest level.
In Blagnac, you also have young people like Lina Queyroi (21 years old) or Melissande Llorens (20 years old) currently at the World Cup. Have you seen them grow?
Yes, “Méli” arrived as a youngest. And I have a special tenderness for my “little filly” Lina who has the same job as me and with whom we are often compared. I am very proud to see her at this level, it announces beautiful things. This new generation knew the selections very early, whether with the under 18s and the under 20s. But they are formatted at a high level and I think they are more prepared than us in our time when we started in the French team.
- First match of Les Bleues in this World Cup: France / South Africa Saturday October 8 03:15 French time