2023-12-11 02:46:10
The last step was too high. Qualified for the final of the South African stage of World Sevens Rugby this Sunday, thanks to victories against Fiji and New Zealand, the French women’s rugby sevens team lost to the Australia (29-26) and failed to achieve its dream of winning the first gold medal in its history in a competition of this level.
The Australians started the match better than the French. In the first minute, Maddison Levi scored a try, quickly followed by three more goals, making the score 22-0. A gap that is a priori irremediable at this level. But Anne-Cécile Ciofani then gave Les Bleues some hope by flattening twice in the in-goal area at the end of the first half (22-14). This hope grew further when Maddison Levi received a red card for a high tackle on Camille Grassineau in the last action of the first act.
A poorly managed second period with numerical superiority
With seven players against six, the Blues then had a golden opportunity to turn the game around. The second period was stifling. Carla Neisen first brought the Blues to three points, before Kaitlin Shave, despite the numerical inferiority of the Australians, gave the final blow. A final try from Joanna Grisez was not enough to reverse the trend and offer this historic gold medal to France.
A cruel outcome for the Blues, who can still be proud of this auspicious journey less than eight months before the Paris Olympic Games for which they are automatically qualified as host country. They will try to do better than their silver medal, in 2021, in Tokyo.
Jérôme Daret’s men were also in South Africa for this second stage of the season, after finishing in 9th place in Dubai. And the Blues were not far from an achievement, losing in sudden death overtime against Fiji in the quarter-finals (29-24). Eliminated, Antoine Dupont’s future teammates had to settle for a match for 7th place, which they ultimately lost to Canada (33-17).
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