France v New Zealand – A Preview – And a Glance at the French Sevens Squad It’s hard to imagine a more momentous day for French rugby: the men’s and women’s teams both take on New Zealand on Saturday. One difference is that the men’s team rarely downs the All Blacks; the women are making
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
If the Black Ferns felt the world top-ranking position was briefly out on loan elsewhere, they have had to readjust their thinking in recent weeks. As they come to Castres for their final tour match, they face a likely blackwash, four defeats in a row. Already the staff are pondering the underlying reasons. The superficial
When did New Zealand last lose two games in one day? No, not Sevens! As the men went down to Ireland in a thriller in Dublin, the Black Ferns suffered a third consecutive defeat on tour in Pau and les Bleues could celebrate a third astonishing victory in a row over the world champions, equalling
The French side to play the Black Ferns at Pau on Saturday: 15 Emilie Boulard (Chilly-Mazarin), 14 Cyrielle Banet (Montpellier), 13 Maëlle Filopon (Stade Toulousain), 12 Gabrielle Vernier (Lille Métropole RC Villeneuvois), 11 Caroline Boujard (Montpellier), 10 Caroline Drouin (Stade Rennais), 9 Pauline Bourdon, 1 Coco Lindelauf (Blagnac), 2 Agathe Sochat (Montpellier), 3 Annaëlle Deshayes
Annick Hayraud has announced her team for their first outing of the autumn against South Africa. She has taken the opportunity to blood some new faces. Among the starters the only familiar faces are skipper, Gaëlle Hermet, alongside Caroline Boujard, Madoussou Fall, Safi N’Diaye and the half-back duo, Laure Sansus and Caroline Drouin. But they
Ireland The IRFU has announced that Adam Griggs will step down from his post as Head Coach after the November internationals. His place will be taken by Greg McWIlliams, who was an assistant coach to Philip Doyle before moving on to appointments in the USA and with World Rugby in Dublin. The news comes as
In his annual report the chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union, Rob Butcher, has addressed the problem of women’s rugby in the Principality. It amounts to an admission of guilt. He resorts to the use of the future tense to an alarming degree, rather like a government promising gold at the end of the rainbow:
France have announced a fascinating programme for their autumn series. They will play South Africa then New Zealand twice – all home matches. This continues their firm policy of playing the best to become the best. The only pity for them is that that are still not able to meet the Black Ferns down under.
Brigitte Jugla is the name to follow in French rugby. She has been appointed head of development for women’s rugby, so has taken on a huge brief. Many of her concerns find an echo in Britain. For her the great leap forward began in 2014 when the World Cup took place in Paris. Since then
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