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Dans la peau d’une Lionne, pour un match féminin historique

Morgane Bourgeois vs. ASM Romagnat

Rencontre prestigieuse et très attendue dans le monde du rugby, le baisser de rideau historique ASM-Bordeaux samedi 2 novembre 2024 a tenu toutes ses promesses. Voici le récit d’une journée riche en émotions, au cœur de l’action.

Par Morgane Bourgeois

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Les attentes autour de ce match étaient grandes. Au-delà de l’objectif de résultat, le désir de prouver que le rugby féminin mérite sa place à la télévision occupait une large part de notre esprit.

La journée commence lentement, loin de l’excitation du stade, dans un hôtel en périphérie de la ville. Comme un signe, la météo est au rendez-vous, offrant des conditions idéales pour développer notre jeu et permettre aux supporters de profiter pleinement de l’expérience.

La préparation

La matinée est marquée par des moments hors du temps, chacune vaquant à ses occupations : coiffures, soins, balade… Le réveil musculaire collectif marque une première avancée dans la journée. Il se déroule dans la bonne humeur, et les sourires de toutes témoignent de la chance que nous avons d’être ici.

Une dernière analyse vidéo pour régler les petits détails nous fait peu à peu entrer dans le match. Tout s’accélère à partir du repas. Après une courte causerie à l’hôtel, chacune enfile ses écouteurs, se met dans sa bulle et monte dans le bus, prête à écrire l’histoire.

L’arrivée au stade est discrète. La rencontre masculine ayant débuté, notre arrivée passe inaperçue. Une préparation calme, à l’opposé de l’effervescence qui règne dans les tribunes d’un Michelin à guichets fermés.

L’arrivée à Michelin

Notre échauffement se déroule sur le terrain annexe, à l’abri des regards. Le bruit du stade retentit, mais toute cette excitation nous paraît encore lointaine. C’est en revenant aux vestiaires que notre place prend une autre dimension.

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Le coup de sifflet final vient d’être donné, et Clermont l’emporte 32-27. Les supporters restants n’attendent plus que nous. Pour rejoindre les vestiaires, nous traversons le pesage, moment où s’alternent encouragements et chambrage bon enfant des Auvergnats.

Quand nous entrons sur la pelouse, le grondement de la foule et le nombre de supporters présents me frappent de plein fouet. 12 500 personnes chantent, crient et agitent leurs drapeaux jaunes et bleus pour un match de championnat.

Certaines d’entre nous ont déjà vécu de telles entrées au niveau international, mais pour un match de club, c’est une grande première. Je savoure cette atmosphère si particulière.

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Profiter du moment, mais ne pas se laisser submerger par l’émotion. Après quelques secondes uniques, le coup d’envoi est donné.

Le match

Chaque contact, chaque essai résonne à l’unisson avec les cris et les applaudissements. On se sent privilégiées, presque invincibles parfois. Nous voulons retrouver, chaque week-end, cette intensité et ce supplément d’âme avec lesquels nous avons joué et qui nous ont permis de remporter ce match 33 à 21.

Les quelques supporters bordelais sont restés jusqu’au bout et nous ont transmis une énergie débordante. Célébrer la victoire avec eux a été la meilleure façon de clôturer cette rencontre.

De retour au vestiaire, les messages de nos proches affluent. Ceux qui n’avaient pas pu venir au stade ont pu nous suivre sur Canal+ Sport, une alternative de luxe sur l’une des plus grandes chaînes de sport françaises, pour que même ceux loin du cœur de l’action soient au plus près de nous.

Cela peut paraître anodin, mais habituellement, les matchs à l’extérieur sont retransmis via des lives Twitch ou Facebook, et il est difficile pour nos familles et amis de visionner un match de qualité. Le sentiment que nos efforts sont vus et reconnus, au-delà du stade, nous emplit d’une fierté immense.

Aujourd’hui, nous sommes fières d’avoir été les premières porteuses d’une flamme qui, on l’espère, ne s’éteindra jamais.

La demande de billets pour la Coupe du Monde de Rugby Féminin 2025 en Angleterre sera ouverte à partir du 5 novembre (dès le 22 octobre pour les titulaires de cartes Mastercard). Inscrivez-vous dès maintenant !

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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