Blame the Parents
When a child misbehaves, it’s often the parents who are blamed. How many of the complainants are parents themselves? In the rugby world the damning finger will point to the coaches.
After another French loss at Gloucester, is that fair? In some respects, yes. Not for the first time, we can look at the French joint-coaches, and wonder what their methods are.
Prosecuting counsel leads with the teams’ expensive error-count. Mistakes, often unforced, keep halting progress. Is the coaching staff spending enough time on rectifying those areas with specific exercises? Ball-retention is vital if you want to create tries on a regular basis. Risk-taking is fine in attack, less so in defence.
There are other areas of disquiet among French fans. Let’s glance at them.
Public opinion varies, but is largely scathing. It’s hard to find a single commenter agreeing with the FFR’s approach to the professional game and contracts (female version). One claims it has left them a decade behind their rivals. Then the selection policy of Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz.
Selection
This was a feature that stood out prominently before the recent 19-38 defeat. Here I have to support the majority view: the Mignot-Ortiz pairing is failing in its prime task.
With only the one warm-up match available, the choice of starters and bench had to be spot on. Only unavoidable injuries could be used as excuses. The plain alternatives were: the strongest team possible or a sensible blend of old and young to widen the pool and offer more big-match experience to the deserving new generation.
In the event, they selected Alex Chambon, the No 2 choice scrum-half, who had a broken nose and played with a mask. Exemplary courage, but sensible? Just watching her train at Marcoussis was painful. Outside her Lina Tuy, 20-years-old, and the third choice No 10 behind Caroline Drouin and Lina Queyroi. She has come in for a heap of French criticism. She made errors, but earned enough plus marks to prove her right to be present.
Tuy was placed between Chambon and Marine Ménager. Ménager played 12 for, I am pretty certain, the very first time. In her early days she was tried on the flank, then moved to 11, 13 and 14. Right, let’s see how she goes at 12. She formed a new centre-partnership with Nassira Konde. An early test of this choice came with Helena Rowland’s try straight between them. When the Sevens star, Séraphine Okemba, was introduced, it was her first experience in the centre.
People were pleased to see Cyrielle Banet restored, but, rather like Abby Dow, the ball rarely ran her way. Instead Jess Breach did, and she enjoyed two more tries.
The plan was to introduce the two undroppables, Gaby Vernier and Pauline Bourdon Sansus, from the bench. With what aim in view? It was highly unlikely that France would be coasting to victory when they arrived. Their late appearance did offer the team a small dividend: Vernier helped supply PBS with her try.
The choice of forwards was more predictable. There was hope when the first scrum shunted the English pack backwards, but that dominance wasn’t sustained. One French joker wondered why les Bleues introduced a new line-out technique: throwing the ball to the shortest player available. The strange fact is, they make a habit of this, and the ball is still caught cleanly by the target player (Hermet and Gros are typical examples). Do what works.
The second half mirrored the game at Twickenham, an encouraging French come-back. But the final result, achieving exactly half England’s score, repeated last year’s margin (21-42).
Back to the coaches
Why two of them? What is the advantage for the players of having two rousing pre-game speeches, not one, and two dissections afterwards? How can the pair be sure they’re reading from the same song-sheet? Do they discuss every point at issue and agree on a single answer? It all seems so unlikely.
To my mind it’s parallel to the fashion for co-captains. There was a moment in an England-New Zealand match where the referee turned to the nearer co-captain, Kennedy Simon, for a decision: scrum or line-out? Simon didn’t answer, but turned to Demant for her call. Divide and rule.
Their CV
Since Mignot and Ortiz took power, they have won games, mostly the ones they were expected to. But a 15-5 away win in Edinburgh wasn’t a note of commendation.
Their pinnacle was a first-ever win over the Black Ferns on Kiwi soil, rightly celebrated as a breakthrough moment. The losses to Canada and especially Australia that followed (both 20-29) left a sour taste in the mouth. How was that sequence possible?
One answer is the narrowness of that 18-17 win in Wellington. You can argue that all turned on one moment. This time it was a Fern, Chryss Viliko, who offered a no-look pass. The ball was transferred rapidly via Vernier to Emilie Boulard, who set off hot-foot from her own half for the line. She made it. For much of the remaining game the French hung on, tackling bravely and successfully. It was the turn of Kiwi supporters to moan loudly.
I had expected a review to take place after the French WXV outing. If it did, it was kept secret and the coaches stayed in place. Unlike the English set-up, a woman is in charge of female rugby in France, Brigitte Jugla. She has to maintain a stable, common-sense approach to every issue that arises in her sector, and they are plenty.
She is well aware that, since Annick Hayraud’s departure from the post of head of rugby, there have been two more changes. A third would smack strongly of incompetence at the top. So we are left to imagine the nature of chats going on in high places, as Les Bleues fail to advance as hoped.
The structures below elite level (U18, U20) are among the best in the world. The FFR must identify why this excellence doesn’t permeate through to the top.
What is left?
This is the squad to travel to Canada:
Forwards:
Rose Bernadou, Axelle Berthoumieu, Manon Bigot, MaiIys Borak, Yllana Brosseau, Charlotte Escudero, Madoussou Fall, Manae Feleu, Téani Feleu, Émeline Gros, Hina Ikahehegi, Assia Khalfaoui, Romane Ménager, Ambre Mwayembe, Séraphine Okemba, Élisa Riffonneau, Agathe Sochat, Chloé Vauclin (18)
Backs:
Cyrielle Banet, Océane Bordes, Émilie Boulard, Pauline Bourdon Sansus, Alexandra Chambon, Chloé Jacquet, Nassira Konde, Mélissande Llorens, Marine Ménager, Lina Queyroi, Lina Tuy, Gabrielle Vernier (12)
Of the seven who weren’t involved in the crunch, Berthoumieu, Riffonneau, Llorens and Queyroi have won several caps; Borak, Vauclin, Bordes are less tested.
The omission of Gaëlle Hermet has caused a storm of protest. The reasoning is that, with a squad of only 30 permitted, it needed “balance”. Hermet was deemed to lack physicality; Okemba replaces here. The absence of Drouin baffles too. Fans suggest ‘faces that don’t fit’. There may be other reasons.
The post-match analyses can hardly help to ensure the results in Vancouver the management want. Will the England game help the side defeat Canada, New Zealand and the USA? The Eagles, yes; the other two more doubtful.
That is where a second warm-up game would have proved so valuable; every fit member of the squad would have had some game-time before the big event. Injuries may well have prevented that happening (for example Annaëlle Deshaye and Lina Queyroi), but the build-up plans do seem inadequate.
To throw some light on my contentions, here is the side that beat the Black Ferns at Wellington:
15 Morgane Bourgeoise 14 Cyrielle Banet 13 Marine Ménager 12 Gabrielle Vernier 11 Émilie Boulard 10 Lina Queyroi 9 Alex Chambon 1 Ambre Mwayembe 2 Elisa Riffonneau 3 Clara Joyeux 4 Manae Feleu (captain) 5 Madoussou Fall 6 Axelle Berthoumieu 7 Gaëlle Hermet 8 Charlotte Escudero
16 Laura Touyé 17 Coco Lindelauf 18 Assia Khalfaoui 19 Audrey Forlani 20 Léa Champon 21 Emeline Gros 22 Pauline Bourdon Sansus 23 Nassira Konde
