France will have to fight New Zealand fire on Saturday without Caroline Boujard. She
will not be available ‘for professional reasons’.
Media people at once queried that phrase.
Then they discovered that she is taking her fire-fighting exams and must prepare properly.
This means we have at least three leading European rugby players linked to that noble calling. Jade Konkel and Shaunagh Brown have already passed through its hoops.
And it is a stark reminder that the vast majority of international players are still partly or wholly amateur. Boujard had been working as a shop-assistant in Montpellier, then became a volunteer fire-fighter before deciding to take on the job professionally.
Only last week she was included in a list of four candidates for the grandest of prizes, World Player of the Year. She has been in prolific form: last April she scored a hat-trick of tries against Wales in 14 minutes, equalling Kat Merchant’s Six Nations record. She finished the 2021 series as top try-scorer (5).
With Madoussou Fall, the highly promising young lock forward also missing, France’s strength in depth will be tested. But that is where head coaches are so careful to ensure there are always adequate resources in place. Annick Hayraud has a number of talented wingers who could do a good job.
The odds are still firmly on France overcoming the Black Ferns for the fourth time running at Castres. That gives them the chance of wresting third place in world rankings from Canada. Those four defeats would set alarm bells ringing throughout the Land of the long white Cloud. The unspoken assumption had always been that the Black Ferns would win a sixth World Cup at Eden Park.
