A dominant win in La Rochelle: What’s next for les Bleues?

Following their opening win against Ireland, the coaching duo of Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz quickly pinpointed key areas for improvement heading into the clash in La Rochelle: defensive consistency, build the game patiently, and converting opportunities into points.

“We knew we had to build our game,” co-captain Manae Feleu explained. “And that it would be, first and foremost, a mental battle. We knew the first half would be intense — that Scotland didn’t travel to La Rochelle just for the sights.”

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“So we were expecting a real test, and we knew we had to win it mentally. We put in a big first half, even though we struggled a bit to convert our chances. But we kept going, knowing they would eventually break. That was our strategy — to keep building, to come away with points every time, and that’s what we managed to do. And as everyone saw, when the gap opened, we took full advantage.”

Saturday night in La Rochelle also highlighted another clear area of focus for les Bleues moving forward: managing their weaker phases.

“If we want to win a World Cup, we know there’ll be tighter games — matches we’ll have to build little by little,” said head coach David Ortiz in the post-match press conference. “This Scottish team has strong character — we saw it again last week, winning in the final moments against Wales. We knew they’d be tough in that regard.

😮‍💨 Emma Orr with the pace for Scotland 🤩#GuinnessW6N @Scotlandteam pic.twitter.com/uoqT1qRbc5

— Guinness Women’s Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) March 29, 2025

“So for us, it was important to build our game patiently and let things develop as the match progressed. I think the match against Ireland, where we came through a difficult patch, and today’s performance — these are the kind of games that help us grow and prepare for the future.

“We’ll analyse everything, keep learning and improving. That’s exactly the path we want to follow.”

Another positive sign was the improved attacking performance — more clinical and composed than against Ireland.

“We managed to build our game more effectively this week,” said Feleu. “We were also much more disciplined, which gave us confidence. We stayed at 15 players the whole game, and it’s definitely easier to attack in those conditions. Last week, we validated our defence, but we were a bit frustrated with our attacking display — so today we really wanted to enjoy ourselves in that area.

Seraphine Okemba pour le 3e essai de @FranceRugby 🤩

Quel offload superbe de Kelly Arbey pour envoyer sa 3e ligne derrière la ligne 😮‍💨

📺 France TV#FRAECO | #SixNationsRugby pic.twitter.com/yGLm8spePM

— Six Nations (FR) (@SixNations_FR) March 29, 2025

“Even if we weren’t always scoring tries, we kept coming away with three points when we got into their half. That gave us confidence, and it’s something we worked on during the week. Every time we got into their 22, we had to score points to stay in control and win the mental battle.”

With three rounds still to play in the Six Nations Chmpionship, France have valuable opportunities ahead to fine-tune their game ahead of Rugby World Cup 2025 in England, the ultimate goal.

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Feleu concluded. “What we want is to build. And compared to last week, we can already see progress. It’s not perfect yet — we still have three games to go, so we keep pushing. Today we had fun, in defence and in attack. Now we just want to keep that momentum going.”