A really great day for French rugby – both national sides beating the Kiwis in packed stadiums. Les Bleues create history with four consecutive wins over the Black Ferns.
New Zealand came to the swish confines of the Stade Pierre Antoine in Castres, the Venice of southern France, determined to put the record straight.
The French staff, no doubt delighted by last week’s showing in Pau, called for consistency, no more blowing hot and cold. One great performance against the world champions would be one too few.
The game started as all the 12,000 crowd wished: an expertly built driving maul and Agathe Sochat had a first try. Caroline Drouin converted. (7-0).
The second success was a carbon copy of Emilie Boulard’s try last week. The French pack dismantled the Black Ferns again; Pauline Bourdon sniped left and fed Marie Aurélie Castel (replacing Caroline Boujard) for a debut try. The only difference here was that Castel had to avoid the touchline and do some fending. Drouin had no trouble from the left edge. (14-0)
It has to be admitted that the Kiwi pack looked like sailors desperately bailing out a sinking boat. Despite any efforts the coaches may have made to install counter-measures, the water kept pouring in.
Three minutes to half-time and the Ferns found their true selves. Woodman made one powerful strike down the left wing to remind us of better times and leave the question; why was she given so little ball to exploit? The pack hammered at the French line and the TMO confirmed that Kennedy Simon had touched down, another debut try. (14-7).
But, to underline the way the whole tour has gone for them. the French counter-attacked at once. Not only were they awarded a penalty try but Maia Roos was shown yellow. The Ferns pack had crumpled once more.
Half-time: 21-7
The French locker-room would have echoed to one idea: complete the job.
On 55 minutes they drove at the Kiwi line again. This time they were stopped legally and had to work patiently for an opening. They made four separate thrusts at the line till finally the ball was spun wide left. Drouin sent out another of her magnificent passes, a cut-out to Castel who was in for her second.
The Ferns could make no further improvements to their score. Instead, Drouin calmly sent over a penalty from 35 metres to inflict the final blow to the champions’ well-being.
Result: France 29 New Zealand 7
Teams
France: 15 Chloé Jacquet (Lyon OU), 14 Cyrielle Banet (Montpellier), 13 Maëlle Filopon (Stade Toulousain), 12 Gabrielle Vernier (Lille Métropole RC Villeneuvois), 11 Marie Aurélie Castel (Stade Rennais), 10 Caroline Drouin (Stade Rennais), 9 Pauline Bourdon (Stade Toulousain), 1 Coco Lindelauf (Blagnac), 2 Agathe Sochat (Montpellier), 3 Annaëlle Deshayes (Lyon OU), 4 Céline Ferer (Stade Toulousain), 5 Audrey Forlani (Blagnac), 6 Gaëlle Hermet (captain, Stade Toulousain), 7 Romane Ménager (Montpellier), 8 Emeline Gros (Montpellier)
Bench: 16 Laure Touyé (Montpellier), 17 Yllana Brosseau (AC Bobigny 93) 18 Clara Joyeux (Blagnac), 19 Safi N’Diaye (Montpellier), 20 Julie Annery (Stade Français), 21 Laure Sansus (Stade Toulousain), 22 Morgane Peyronnet (Montpellier) 23 Emilie Boulard (Chilly-Mazarin)
New Zealand: 1. Pip Love, 2. Grace Houpapa-Barrett, 3. Aleisha Pearl Nelson, 4. Joanah Ngan-Woo, 5. Maia Roos, 6. Dhys Faleafaga, 7. Les Elder (captain), 8. Liana Mikaele-Tu’u, 9. Kendra Cocksedge, 10. Ruahei Demant, 11. Ayesha Leti-I’iga, 12. Kelly Brazier, 13. Stacey Fluhler, 14. Portia Woodman, 15. Cheyelle Robins-Reti
Bench: 16. Georgia Ponsonby, 17. Aldora Itunu, 18. Amy Rule, 19. Eloise Blackwell, 20. Kennedy Simon, 21. Ariana Bayler, 22. Patricia Maliepo, 23. Carla Hohepa
Officials:
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
ARs: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SARU) and Nikki O’Donnell (RFU)
TMO: Neil Paterson (SRU)
with thanks to rugbyreferee.net
Afterthoughts:
This was the official Black Ferns view before the match:
‘…there will be a huge amount of determination to ensure they finish on a positive note ahead of the summer break. Players will go straight into Super Rugby Aupiki squads in the new year, before playing more Tests ahead of the Rugby World Cup on home soil. A win against France would be a huge confidence booster ahead of a mammoth 2022 season.’
One interesting detail. ‘on home soil’. That’s logical when they have a World Cup taking place there, but it means all their likely opponents (Australia, Canada, USA?) will make the trip perhaps only for a single test. An alternative would be to provide them with extra games (either a round-robin or a series each?), but how much help will the visitors be willing to give the host nation as they face an unwonted struggle to retain the trophy?
And of course ‘a win over France’ remained a pipe-dream.
This was a day of mixed emotions for Kendra Cocksedge who equalled Fiao’o Fa’amausili’s record of 57 caps. She first appeared in a black shirt in 2007 and has totalled 350 points, another record.
Does too much depend on her these days?
When you consider the four tour results. you have to wonder about selection. 28-year-old Kendra Reynolds was allowed on for a proud debut a few minutes from the end of the series. If she was not worth a run-out before then, were there no other players worth introducing earlier?
The selections for the tour will be only one of a myriad issues to be discussed when the party returns home. For two or three weeks now the official line has been more about learning valuable lessons than winning matches, a most unusual Kiwi stance.
