France have so much experience of finishing third at world cups that you have to wonder whether the coaches needed to exercise them at all pre-match.
Tough and resourceful as the Canadians were, the French had the edge at all the decisive moments.
They used a following breeze to build attacking positions. Emilie Boulard won a rally of kick-tennis and Marine Ménager was over the line; but Sara Cox decreed ‘held up’.
It took them eleven minutes to post their first score. They were lightning quick in their movements, led by Pauline Bourdon, who was back to her absolute best. Lovely interpassing saw Romane Ménager burst through and feed Madoussou Fall. There was no halting her.
Sophie de Goede led a Canadian response with a half-break and kick ahead, but it came to nothing.
That sequence, by the way, has been widely used in this RWC.
Bourdon repeated her sharpness with a break down the blind-side and yet another devilish kick ahead.
The game seemed glued to the Canuck’s end of the ground. The elder Ménager made a second telling thrust, but this time Fall was held up by determined defence.
Les Bleues played canny by accepting the offer of three points in front of the posts. Caroline Drouin had another fine game with her right boot.
French territorial possession was now reaching silly proportions, somewhere near 90%. It was always likely to be this way, the amateurs playing their sixth game in six weeks, and into that breeze.
The French now produced a peach of a move. They attacked hard down the right; as the ball swung into midfield Gabrielle Vernier, surely one of the biggest stars of the tournament, stepped back inside, galloped through and found Bourdon on her shoulder for a scoring pass. So simple, so devastating.
Canada enjoyed a big scrum at last, but when they attempted a rolling maul, it wasn’t formed tightly enough. De Goede had to peel off and momentum was lost.
A final thrust by the French before the break saw the ball moved at lightning speed through the half-backs to the left-wing where Marine Ménager dipped a shoulder to power over.
Half-time: 22-0
This was not a winning score, but somehow it never looked as though the Maple Leafs could find a way back into the contest. Even their prized pack was being held with some ease.
The French forwards widened the margin with a drive completed by Annaëlle Deshayes (the loose-head of the tournament?).
Canada did manage to run through seven phases, but another knock-on did for them. A touch of desperation possibly.
On the three-quarter mark France completed their last score, another beauty. Drouin picked out her left-winger again with a long pass and she had her second.
With that Elissa Alarie bowed out of international rugby, a sad end to a distinguished career, but there may be many more to follow her into retirement.
The Canadians are so admirable, but until Rugby Canada feels able and willing to push funding their way (rather than to Sevens), they can’t expect to reach the top of the tree. They deserve to.
In so large a stadium the attendance looked sparse in the extreme at the start. Of course it filled up as the following game approached, but Kiwis reserve their favours for their own kind.
Result: Canada 0 France 36
Player of the Match: Pauline Bourdon
The teams
Canada:
1. Olivia DeMerchant, 2. Emily Tuttosi, 3. DaLeaka Menin, 4. Courtney Holtkamp, 5. McKinley Hunt, 6. Sara Svoboda, 7. Karen Paquin 8. Sophie de Goede (captain), 9. Justine Pelletier, 10. Alexandra Tessier 11. Paige Farries, 12. Sara Kaljuvee, 13. Alysha Corrigan 14. Maddy Grant, 15. Elissa Alarie
Bench:
16. Gillian Boag, 17. Brittany Kassil, 18. Alex Ellis, 19. Emma Taylor, 20. Tyson Beukeboom, 21. Gabrielle Senft, 22. Fabiola Forteza, 23. Anaïs Holly
France:
1 Annaëlle Deshayes, 2 Agathe Sochat, 3 Assia Khalfaoui, 4 Céline Ferer, 5 Madoussou Fall, 6 Gaëlle Hermet (captain), 7 Charlotte Escudéro, 8 Romane Ménager, 9 Pauline Bourdon, 10 Caroline Drouin, 11 Marine Ménager, 12 Gabrielle Vernier, 13 Maëlle Filopon, 14 Joanna Grisez, 15 Emilie Boulard
Bench:
16 Laure Touyé 17 Célia Domain, 18 Clara Joyeux, 19 Safi N’Diaye 20 Marjorie Mayans 21 Alex Chambon, 22 Jessy Trémoulière, 23 Chloé Jacquet
Officials:
Referee: Sara Cox (RFU)
ARs: Joy Neville (IRFU) and Lauren Jenner (NZRU) TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
with thanks to rugbyreferee.net
Rankings
After the final that followed this game the top-four world rankings shuffled. The gap between the two finalists narrowed and France overtook Canada once more – that had long seemed to me the right and proper order.
1 England 94.29
2 New Zealand 93.19
3 France 89.68
4 Canada 84.22
But some people prefer to have a world cup on their mantelpiece.
