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The Women’s XV of France easily triumphed over Ireland on Saturday in Cork as part of the Six Nations Tournament. The next meeting of the Bleues is set for April 16, in Vannes, to face Scotland.
After a sluggish start to the Six Nations Tournament in Italy (22-12), the women’s XV of France, reduced to 14 from the 20th minute, took place on Saturday April 1 in Cork (53-3), passing no less than nine tries to a young Irish team undergoing reconstruction.
Thanks to this improved victory on the second day, Audrey Forlani’s teammates are temporarily positioned in first place in the standings, in particular before the reception on Sunday of Italy by England, defending champion.
After a week off, the French, runners-up in 2022, will meet in Vannes on April 16 against Scotland.
“The girls’ state of mind was remarkable,” said their co-coach Gaëlle Mignot after the game. desire to raise their level”.
“A good working base”
All mastery, serenity and opportunism, the Blues were therefore able to bounce back after a somewhat worrying first outing against the Transalpines in Parma, where they had shown imprecision and feverishness. “It’s a good working basis to allow us to build for the future,” added Gaëlle Mignot, stressing that the players, who had felt “frustration” after their pale copy returned to Italy, had the desire to ” do better”.
In Cork, and despite the red card for a dangerous tackle quickly awarded to the pillar Annaëlle Deshaye by the Scottish referee Hollie Davidson, who had officiated during the World Cup final between New Zealand and England in Auckland, the Blues have clearly impressed.
On a synthetic lawn, conducive to attacking play, and despite an unfavorable swirling wind, the band of Pauline Bourdon, designated “woman of the match”, secured their improved victory from the first period, after a convincing start from the Irish, dressed navy blue shorts to “respond to the anxiety of players during menstruation”, as decided by their Federation before the competition.
A “hermetic and solid” defense
In perfect illustration with their new team mantra “who dares wins”, seven players took part in the blue fireworks, including Pauline Bourdon and Gabrielle Vernier who each offered themselves a double.
“What we wanted above all was to impose a rhythm, a tempo, our aggressiveness. We didn’t necessarily find that at the start of the match, but little by little the players let go, knew how to dare, try blows, take the initiative”, welcomed David Ortiz, co-trainer of the French.
The XV of Clover, which had not qualified for the World Cup in the fall, had made four changes for this match, trusting many young players, little capped.
Dominated physically and technically, the teammates of Nichola Fryday, largely beaten (31-5) in Wales last weekend, could not do anything, even in numerical superiority during almost the entire meeting. They even finished the match at 14 too, after a yellow card for hair pulling awarded to their back Meabh Deely.
“What we also asked the girls is to build their match, not to get carried away by the score too quickly,” said David Ortiz, also satisfied with the “hermetic and serene” defense put in place. by its players, who did not concede any try.
With AFP
