France National Rugby Union Team: Les Bleus

France’s Six Nations history dates back to 1910, when Les Bleus joined the competition. This resulted in the Home Nations being rebranded as the Five Nations Championship. Today, the France rugby team competes against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the annual Six Nations.

In a surprising turn of events, France were removed from the tournament in 1932. They were excluded on grounds of suspected professionalism, which was not allowed during rugby’s amateur era. After the tournament paused during World War II, France were invited to rejoin the Five Nations in 1947.

With the exception of this period, the France Six Nations team has participated in every Championship since 1910. In 1954, after competing in 37 tournaments, France celebrated their first shared win. Five years later, France won their first outright Five Nations title.

To date, the France Six Nations squad has captured 26 titles (18 outright and eight shared victories) and 10 Grand Slams.

France at the Rugby World Cup

Although they have competed in every edition of the tournament, France have never won the Rugby World Cup. However, as a talented and intimidating team, Les Bleus have reached the final on three occasions. The France rugby team finished as the runners-up in 1987, 1999 and 2011.

France’s first Rugby World Cup final came after one of the sport’s greatest semi-finals. The match saw a fierce France battle a determined Australia and, just as extra time seemed inevitable, Serge Blanco scored one of the best tries of the modern era. Despite their semi-final triumph, Les Bleus suffered a 29-9 loss against New Zealand in the final.

In 1999, France faced Australia in the final after overcoming New Zealand at the semi-final stage. Sadly though, they fell to a resounding 35-12 defeat. Then, in 2011, France almost captured the trophy. They fought a fierce clash against New Zealand, but they lost the match 8-7.