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'All points are important because we know that it is a tough competition'
By Matt Merritt
While the England-France game in Pool C of the Rugby World Cup will be remembered for the Red Roses extending their winning streak, for the French there are lots of reasons to be optimistic.
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With France scoring seven points to England’s 13, and having weathered a pair of early injury replacements, Les Bleus will take heart that they came closer to winning against their old enemy than they have in a considerable time.
Talismanic scrum-half Laura Sansus left the field after just 12 minutes with Romana Menager removed four minutes later after being knocked unconscious in a ruck. The French would have been forgiven for taking a backward step at this point but it seemed, if anything, to light a fire under them. The introductions of Bourdon and Hermet an example of how they could match their opposition for depth.
“It was a very tough game, very difficult. We didn’t have many balls. On the other hand, we showed a lot of solidarity in defence and that will help us for the rest of the competition.” Agathe Sochat said, speaking after the game.
“I think we relied a lot on our defence, it was a key point today to be reassured. We gave the ball back a lot on foot. On the other hand, we were relatively effective when we were in their territory, so that’s a strong point and we’re going to continue to work on that to be a little bit more at the opponent’s side and score.”
That positivity is key for France who will go on to face Fiji next week and will likely finish second in Pool C. Head coach Thomas Darracq, while pleased with his team’s performance, sees plenty of opportunities to improve further. “These games are not always won on domination with the ball. Tonight we are 13-7, we take the defensive bonus, we make a big game, that’s what I remember tonight.”
“The footwork was not up to what we are capable of doing. We didn’t perform as well as usual, a lot of little mistakes, a lot of touches that weren’t long enough. There were so many little things that I only want to keep the positive tonight. Tonight we are very satisfied with the team’s performance.”
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For now, France look ahead to an unpredictable Fijiana side and for their imperious centre Gabrielle Vernier confidence is high. “We keep a lot of confidence for the future. A result like this can only be valuable for the future. We will have to show more things in attack against Fiji.”
Perhaps most important for France is that they captured a bonus point in defeat and denied England the extra point in their victory. As Darracq puts it “All points are important because we know that it is a tough competition, we know that anything can be played on a game. We took the bonus point, that’s very positive. Now, we will very quickly switch to the Fiji game.”. It will certainly make for a more interesting run to the finals with the scores and the way the competition is seeded there is now a good chance of France meeting the Black Ferns in the semi-finals, a fixture that should excite any rugby fan!
