1
Les Anglaises peuvent chambrer, « on ne comprend pas ce qu’elles nous disent »
La petite semaine de préparation se termine pour les Françaises qui s’apprêtent à vivre leur plus gros match de ce Tournoi 2024 contre l’Angleterre samedi 27 avril à Bordeaux.
ADVERTISEMENT
En plus de la préparation physique, le staff du XV de France féminin a mis en place une préparation mentale depuis près d’un an à destination des joueuses, surtout depuis la défaite dans le WXV 1 en Nouvelle-Zélande à l’automne dernier.
« On commence vraiment à en voir les fruits. On se sent prêtes, que ce soit sur le terrain ou dans la tête », explique l’ailière Marie Ménager (27 ans, 47 sélections).
« Le plus important, c’est déjà de se concentrer sur nous, sur nos émotions. Ça a été un de nos défauts. On est Françaises, on prend tout très à cœur et on vit l’émotion fois 1000. Aujourd’hui avec la prépa mentale on a fait un gros travail dessus. »
Face à face
5 dernières rencontres
Victoires
0
Nuls
0
Victoires
5
Moyenne de points marqués
18
27
Le premier essai gagne
60%
L'équipe recevante gagne
20%
Ce qu’apporte le public
Cette préparation mentale a surtout été bénéfique pour faire comprendre aux joueuses que ce qui compte sur le terrain, ce sont elles, ce qu’elles font, le jeu qu’elles produisent.
Et celui-ci a patiemment été mis au point entre le staff et elles. « Le projet de jeu colle vraiment à l’identité des joueuses. On l’a travaillé en collaboration avec le staff », confirme Marine. « On sait qu’elles (les Anglaises, ndlr) vont avoir du répondant, mais le principal c’est nous, ce qu’on va leur proposer. »
Le premier point à prendre en compte dans l’environnement extérieur est l’apport du public que l’on annonce nombreux, propre à pulvériser un record français pour un test féminin.
ADVERTISEMENT
« On se sent plus fortes. D’avoir 22 000 personnes derrière nous, on a l’impression d’être plus sûres. Ça va jouer un rôle important », acquiesce Marine Ménager.
Hermétiques au chambrage
Enfin, l’autre aspect extérieur que la préparation mentale a contribué à prendre en compte, ce sont les relations avec les adversaires sur le terrain.
Car quel que soit le dispositif télévisuel mis en place et les capacités de prises de son déployées tout autour du stade, ce qui se dit dans le huis clos d’un ruck ou d’une mêlée n’est pas capté par les spectateurs. Et en termes de chambrage on sait que les Anglaises sont passées maîtresses en la matière.
ADVERTISEMENT
« Les Galloises nous ont très bien préparées le week-end dernier à ça », sourit l’ailière. « Ça fait partie de notre prépa mentale, à gérer un peu ces frustrations qu’on peut avoir et passer outre.
« On sait qu’elles vont le faire – on a l’habitude pour certaines ; on en a discuté entre nous. Mais on sait que la meilleure façon de répondre c’est dans notre jeu, sur les impacts…
« On ne va pas forcément entrer dans leur jeu, à parler avec elles. On laisse faire. On sait très bien à quoi s’attendre ; si ça les amuse, il n’y a pas de problème.
« De toute façon, on ne comprend pas forcément ce qu’elles nous disent, alors il n’y a pas de soucis. On reste focus sur notre jeu… »
Comments on RugbyPass
All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
9 Go to commentsThe match experience still sucks at SR games, irrespective of the game being a little quicker. Rugby has to compete with so much in the modern world, if you’re going to get people to leave their houses and pay to watch a game in winter then the experience has to be worthwhile.
9 Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
6 Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
14 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
14 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
14 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
9 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
3 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
136 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
14 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
14 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
4 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
136 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
136 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
6 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to comments