Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Amédée, Ménager and Okemba out of Grand Slam decider

France´s flanker Seraphine Okemba (L) runs with the ball to score a try during the Women's Six Nations international rugby union match between France and Scotland at Marcel Deflandre Stadium in La Rochelle, south-western France, on March 29, 2025. (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP) (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

A tough blow for France on the eve of their clash against the Red Roses in the 2025 Women’s Six Nations final match. On Tuesday, April 22, the staff confirmed the withdrawals of Montserrat Amédée, Romane Ménager, and Séraphine Okemba.

“Montserrat Amédée (Stade Bordelais), Romane Ménager (Montpellier HR) and Séraphine Okemba (LOU Rugby) have been ruled out. Taïna Maka (FC Grenoble Amazones) and Maélig Ngassa-Manac’h (Stade Rennais) join the squad to prepare for the match against England as part of Round 5 of the 2025 Women’s Six Nations,” the statement read.

No reasons were given for the trio’s withdrawal. The match day squad to face England in the Championship finale, set for Saturday, April 26, had been announced the previous evening.

Back-row Séraphine Okemba had featured in all of France’s recent XVs fixtures since helping the national sevens team finish fifth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, earning eight caps since autumn 2024.

That’s the same number of caps earned by centre Montserrat Amédée, who returned to international rugby in 2025 after last appearing in 2018. She was named in the squad for France’s home games against Scotland and Wales earlier in the tournament.

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins
5
Draws
0
Wins
0
Average Points scored
35
24
First try wins
100%
Home team wins
60%

Back-row Romane Ménager had only just returned to action against Italy, having been sidelined following a concussion that occurred last December with Montpellier. She had initially come back into competition at the Hong Kong Sevens, but was considered not quite ready for the Wales match in Round 3 of the Six Nations.

Taïna Maka (20), from Wallis and Futuna, plays both as a number eight and second-row for FC Grenoble and is uncapped at senior level, as is 21-year-old centre Maélig Ngassa-Manac’h from Stade Rennais Rugby.

ADVERTISEMENT

Download the RugbyPass app now!

News, stats, live rugby and more! Download the new RugbyPass app on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now!

ADVERTISEMENT

KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Lions Share | Episode 4

Zimbabwe vs Namibia | Rugby Africa Cup Final | Full Match Replay

USA vs Fiji | Women's International | Full Match Replay

Tattoos & Rugby: Why are tattoos so popular with sportspeople? | Amber Schonert | Rugby Rising Locker Room Season 2

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
B
BC 92 days ago

The absence of Romane Manager will be a blow to France and Okempa has been a first choice in each game.

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
NH 1 hour ago
'The Wallabies need to convert much better - or Melbourne could be much worse'

Nice one as always Brett. I think the stats hide a bit of the dominance the lions had, and they would look alot worse in that first half when the game was more in the balance. You mention it here but I think it hasn’t been talked about enough was the lineout. The few times the wallabies managed to exit their half and get an opportunity to attack in the 1st half, the lineout was lost. This was huge in terms of lions keeping momentum and getting another chance to attack, rather than the wallabies getting their chance and to properly ‘exit’ their half. The other one you touch on re “the will jordan bounce of the ball” - is kick chase/receipt. I thought that the wallabies kicked relatively well (although were beaten in this area - Tom L rubbish penalty kicks for touch!), but our kick receipt and chase wasn’t good enough jorgenson try aside. In the 1st half there was a moment where russell kicked for a 50:22 and potter fumbled it into touch after been caught out of position, lynagh makes a similar kick off 1st phase soon after and keenan is good enough to predict the kick, catch it at his bootlaces and put a kick in. That kick happened to go out on the full but it was a demonstration on the difference in positioning etc. This meant that almost every contested kick that was spilled went the way of the lions, thats no accident, that is a better chase, more urgency, more players in the area. Wallabies need to be better in who fields their kicks getting maxy and wright under most of them and Lynagh under less, and the chase needs to be the responsibility of not just one winger but a whole group of players who pressure not just the catch but the tackle, ruck and following phase.

17 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

Thanks for the further background to player welfare metrics Nick.


Back on the last article I noted that WR is now dedicating a whole section in their six-point business plan to this topic. It also noted that studies indicated 85-90% of workload falls outside of playing. So in respect to your point on the classification of ‘involvements’ included even subs with a low volume of minutes, it actually goes further, to the wider group of players that train as if they’re going to be required to start on the weekend, even if they’re outside the 23. That makes even the 30-35 game borderline pale into insignificance.


No doubt it is won of the main reasons why France has a quota on the number of one clubs players in their International camps, and rotate in other clubs players through the week. The number of ‘invisible’ games against a player suggests the FFRs 25 game limit as more appropriate?


So if we take it at face value that Galthie and the FFR have got it right, only a dozen players from the last 60 international caps should have gone on this tour. More players from the ‘Scotland 23’ than the more recent 23.


The only real pertinent question is what do players prefer more, health or money? There are lots of ethical decisions, like for instance whether France could make a market like Australia’s where their biggest rugby codes have yearly broadcast deals of 360 and 225 million euros. They do it by having a 7/8 month season.

68 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Mixed Lions injury update on McCarthy, Smith, Hansen and Graham Mixed Lions injury update on McCarthy, Smith, Hansen and Graham