New Contracts signed
The two new head coaches of Les Bleues, Gaëlle Mignot et David Ortiz, have made their first statemernt of intent, outlining the programme for a new year through to the end of the Six Nations.
Even more important, they have announced the names of 32 players who have signed new contracts.
They are:
Julie Annery (Stade Bordelais)
Cyrielle Banet (Montpellier Hérault)
Rose Bernadou (Montpellier Hérault)
Axelle Berthoumieu (Blagnac)
Caroline Boujard (Montpellier Hérault)
Émilie Boulard (Blagnac)
Pauline Bourdon (Stade Toulousain)
Morgane Bourgeois (Stade Bordelais)
Yllana Brosseau (Stade Bordelais)
Alexandra Chambon (Grenoble)
Annaëlle Deshayes (Stade Bordelais)
Célia Domain (Blagnac)
Marie Dupouy (Blagnac)
Charlotte Escudero (Blagnac)
Madoussou Fall (Stade Bordelais)
Manae Feleu (Grenoble)
Maëlle Filopon (Stade Toulousain)
Audrey Forlani (Blagnac)
Emeline Gros (Grenoble)
Gaëlle Hermet (Stade Toulousain)
Clara Joyeux (Blagnac)
Assis Khalfaoui (Stade Bordelais)
Coco Lindelauf (Blagnac)
Mélissande Llorens (Blagnac)
Marine Ménager (Montpellier Hérault)
Romane Ménager (Montpellier Hérault)
Lina Queyroi (Blagnac)
Élisa Riffoneau (Stade Rennais)
Agathe Sochat (Stade Bordelais)
Laure Touyé (Montpellier Hérault)
Jessy Trémoulière (ASM Romagnat)
Gabrielle Vernier (Blagnac)
Four familiar figures have retired since the end of the RWC: Céline Ferer, Laure Sansus, Marjorie Mayans and Safi N’Diaye. They will be much missed.
Despite their disappearance plenty of experience remains, not least Audrey Forlani, Caroline Boujard and Jessy Trémoulière. Even newer names like the hooker Élisa Riffoneau have been hovering around the squad for some time. Marie Dupouy was the scrum-half called into the World Cup squad after Laure Sansus suffered her leg injury. It was her misfortune to fall foul of coronavirus as she arrived in Auckland.
What we can’t yet tell is which choices the co-coaches will make for the most hotly contested positions. The opening session in Toulouse takes the form of a meet-and-greet.
Though most of the players will be familiar with Mignot and Ortiz, there will be new support staff to be introduced and a new vision to be expounded.
The Programme (January-April)
9-10 January: workshop in Toulouse (plenty of golf on tap)
13-17 February: training session at Capbreton in the deep south-west 13-20 March: second training session (location tba)
26 March: 6 Nations v Italy (Parma)
1 April 6N v Ireland (Cork)
16 April: 6N v Scotland (Vannes)
23 April: 6N v Wales Grenoble
29 April 6N v England (Twickenham Stadium)
One crucial area remains, the 15s/7s divide
Who is where? The latest Sevens squad to take part in the World Series in Hamilton, New Zealand (January 21-22) looks like this:
Montserrat Amédée (Stade Bordelais Rugby), Alycia Christiaens (Stade Villeneuvois Lille Métropole), Lili Dezou (Stade Toulousain Rugby), Lilou Graciet (Lyon OU), Camille Grassineau (Stade Français Paris), Joana Grisez (Bobigny), Lucy Hapulat (Bobigny), Iän Jason (Stade Toulousain), Valentine Lothoz (Stade Rennais), Carla Neisen (Blagnac), Lou Noel (Bobigny), Séraphine Okemba (Lyon OU), Chloé Pelle (Chilly Mazarin), Hada Traore (Bobigny), Léa Trollier (Lyon OU), Yolaine Yengo (Stade Rennais)
Only one player listed here took part in the 2021 RWC, the right winger Joana Grisez. She switches straight back to Sevens. Two other names from Auckland are missing from both lists, Chloé Jacquet and Caroline Drouin. While Jacquet’s absence is covered by the return of the regular first-choice wings Banet and Boujard, the No 10 shirt remains up for grabs. If the very senior Trémoulière remains the chosen option, it does show a lack of back-up strength in that key position. And she was the player who had words to say about selection in New Zealand, or rather, non-selection.
It’s reassuring to see a much wider spread of clubs in David Courteix’s list than the first one; six from the Paris region, three from Lyon and two from Brittany.
This is the line-up for Hamilton:
• POOL A: NZ, GB, Fiji, PNG
• POOL B: Australia, France, Canada, Japan
• POOL C: USA, Ireland, Brazil, Spain
In the 15s group, Emeline Gros returned to Grenoble before the World Cup, where her departure for Montpellier had caused some stirrings within the club; she had been their captain. But the drift towards the biggest clubs continues, as the highly promising back Émilie Boulard moves from the ambitious Chilly Mazarin south of Paris, to the unbelievably strong Blagnac in Toulouse (11 representatives out of 32!).
Where have we seen that trend before?
At least it makes the thought of potential fixtures between, let’s say, the top two clubs in England and France meeting in a little end-of-season ding-dong even more attractive. Sadly, the calendar refuses to stretch to make room for such pipe-dreams.
We should bear in mind that the first list above is of contracted players, rather than the traditional pre-tournament squad.
Now we await news from England’s HQ with some impatience.
