Find the reactions of the French women after their qualification in the quarter-finals of the World Cup following the easy success against Fiji this Saturday (44-0).
Gaëlle Hermet (third line and captain of the Bleues, Fiji winners): “I’m pretty proud because we couldn’t wait to play that game. We knew we were going to come up against a team that was capable of producing for us what they produced for us tonight, that is to say instinctive play. And today, I think we managed to attack the spaces we wanted to attack, so the contract is fulfilled. We said to ourselves that we had to go get this victory and it’s done, so I’m very proud of the state of mind of the group once again”.
Thomas Darracq (coach-selector of France, winner of Fiji 44-0): “We managed to let go a little more. Behind, we had a lot more quality, a lot more passes. Tonight, we were able to show some great things and it’s nice to see this second half too. We are very satisfied with this match. The girls took a lot more risks. Afterwards, we still regret a lot of small slag near the lines where we have to score a lot more tries, there are faults on the releases on the scrums, touches that are poorly controlled at times when we are close to the lines . It’s a shame not to have been able to score even more because tonight the girls deserved it. But hey, the copy is still of good quality this evening and we are very satisfied to have seen this new resplendent face of this team. Naturally, we are already thinking of the quarter-final. It is normal that we project ourselves. We will wait tomorrow (Sunday, editor’s note) to see exactly our position.
Jessy Trémoulière (opening half for Les Bleues, winners of Fiji): “This time, we were able to capture the balls. We will just have to erase these small hand errors which deprive us of points at the end and even throughout the match. We just have to sort out these little details that will perhaps cost us dearly in the end. We still have a week of training. We are in the quarter-finals, we will see who we will fall on. (About his opening start) It went well, even if it’s not the best game I’ve had in my career. I was able to put the team on the right track, I was able to alternate hand and foot play. Seeing the scrums pushed in at the end when there are big guys in front, that’s positive too. But the main thing is that the team has won, that everyone is having fun on the pitch, that’s what is done today.