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Les Bleues outscored Canada 36-0 on Saturday to win the bronze medal at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. A consolation prize after their defeat on November 5 in the semi-final against the New Zealanders who won the tournament against the English.
The women’s XV of France, by crushing Canada 36 to 0, Saturday, November 12, at Eden Park in Auckland in the “small” final of the World Cup, perfectly succeeded in overcoming its disappointment suffered in the semi-final against the Neo -Zealanders to finish with the bronze medal.
At the final whistle, Les Bleues all hugged each other tightly to celebrate this big and clear victory, won thanks to five tries, including a double from winger Marine Ménager.
They therefore won a sixth bronze medal in nine editions. At the first World Cup in 1991, won by the American Eagles, there was no bronze awarded, with France and New Zealand sharing third place.
For Bleues coach Thomas Darracq, who hailed a “very positive result”, this victory is a “very good performance: managing to put 40 points for the Canadian team, third in the world rankings and which almost beat the England last week… We can see that the potential of this team was there”.
Despite the disappointment of the semi-final lost by a small point (25-24) against the New Zealand “Black Ferns”, the French women were able to remobilize to largely dominate this Canadian team which could not offer much. thing, having “dropped” very quickly according to his coach Kévin Rouet.
“We showed a huge heart”
“We really wanted to remobilize to seek this third place and it’s done,” welcomed the captain of Les Bleues, Gaëlle Hermet, after the meeting. “We showed a huge heart, an infallible defense since we took zero points.”
France is the country that has finished third most often in the tournament: it had already climbed this step of the podium in 1994, 2002, 2006, 2014 and 2017.
The pillar Assia Khalfaoui had mentioned this bronze medal during the week as a “consolation prize”, the winger Joanna Grisez had meanwhile blown: “It will be better than nothing”.
This bronze medal is a great reward for four “great ladies” of French rugby who bowed out on Saturday in Auckland: second lines Safi N’Diaye and Céline Ferer, third line Marjorie Mayans and scrum half Laure Sansus, in the stands because injured since the match against England in pool.
“We are very proud to return to France with this medal,” said Gaëlle Hermet. “We especially wanted to get rid of the frustration of last weekend’s match. This third place allows us to come out with something and that’s super positive. It was the minimum we wanted to look for with this group. “
In the final, New Zealand won its sixth world title on Saturday by overcoming England (34-31) in a spectacular and intense match.
With AFP