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Alex Tessier: 'It is quite emotional thinking about it now. I waited a day to tell my partner.'
By Alex Tessier
We’re eager to get going at the World Cup. We’ve had really decent prep. Now I believe we’re ready to test it out and see how far we go in the tournament. This will be my third World Cup and every tournament the feeling has been different.
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This team has been developing a lot and grown so much over the years. Our prep has been the best of the past four cycles.
It has been huge for us. It’s definitely different for so many reasons. This World Cup is exciting for the fact that we’ve proven to ourselves constantly that we can win big games.
We’re pretty consistent at the moment and we’re in a good position. Now the big show is here, I’m like; ‘how far can we go?’ In 2022 we had a pretty decent collection of young and experienced players.
We knew we could go far in that tournament but fell short to England in the semi-final. It was heartbreak for us. Now there’s more expectation but the group feels prepared and ready. We know we could go far in this tournament and find ourselves in the final, where there could be a rematch against England. That’s the sort of thing you look for in your career.
It’s an honour to captain the team for this World Cup. I am biased, but it’s the best team in the world. I first captained the team in the final WXV 1 game last year against England.
I’ve got some great teammates and there are some amazing leaders in the group which makes everything easier. After my call with Kévin (Rouet, Canada’s head coach), when he told me that I was captain for this tournament, I kind of felt bad as soon as I logged off the call that I wasn’t really expressive.
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I was probably smiling up to my ears, but I and Kévin are not the most expressive people. Inside it was a whirlwind of emotions, but because I’m not expressive I put it in a box to deal with later.
I processed it when I was in the car, I told my mom right after too. It is quite emotional thinking about it now. I must be a weirdo, because I waited a day to tell my partner. We weren’t in the same place, so I waited until we were at brunch enjoying a good coffee.
It was an honour to be nominated last year for World Rugby Player of the Year and just the other week to be named fourth in RugbyPass’ Top 50 Women’s Players list.
It is a crazy feeling being recognised on the world stage alongside so many other talented players. At the same time my team is performing and that has made my life so much easier. That makes it a lot easier for me to get recognition.
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Our game against Ireland was a decent win. It wasn’t perfect, but it was our last bit of prep before the World Cup and it was important. Over the past couple of months in the Pacific Four Series, against South Africa and the USA.
Belfast was no different. We had a very strong first half in which we managed to impose our tempo. Ireland tried to slow us down, but that is something we have to expect. The strategy of most teams will be to slow us down. Which is fair.
We need to learn how to deal with that. In the second half it was the reverse. In the first half they got penalised more and we made the most of that, then we weren’t the most disciplined. It was good learning for us. We need to be able to manage an 80 minute performance, keep our tempo high and stay in control because there is no excuse in us easing our foot off the gas.
I really hope our style of play can capture people. We know that even though we are second in the world, some people may not have seen us play.
It is all from Kévin’s mentality. He’s French, he brought this French mentality and we have this group of players, who he wanted to embrace the uniqueness of. He has always found a way to utilise what he has in a group of players and bring out the best of each individual. Everyone has benefitted from his vision.
In our second Test against South Africa one of our second rows moved to the back-row and then finished off the game with a 60m try on the wing.
But it is not complete chaos. We are really intentional as a team and accurate in our details. Organised chaos. There is a lot about what we do on the field that reminds me why I love rugby. One of the big things in this sport is that it doesn’t matter if you are six foot tall, five foot tall, big, small or anything like that.
In the past I have heard players being told they need to put on 10kg to play a certain position. That doesn’t matter. Kévin doesn’t care about that.
Hopefully younger girls and boys never feel restricted and get inspired by us. There’s just so much you can do with rugby. You don’t have to come from a rich background. You can be whatever you want when you pick up a ball.
Our style of play is inspired by that, because it doesn’t matter what you look like. Just what you bring. At the time of writing there is less than a week until we play Fiji in our World Cup opener in York. It is really exciting to be so close to the tournament.
As I said at the start, we are eager to get things underway and show the world what we are about. Fiji look quick. Fast and physical. They’ve got this unique Fijian ability to keep the ball alive.
At this point it is a matter of who can hold onto the ball best between us and them. We’ll look to dominate them physically and at the set-piece.
If we get the set-piece right then our life gets so much easier. If we can beat them with our athleticism and smarts I think we’ll definitely have a good day. Then matching physicality on defence.
Those are the points we’re looking into heading into that game. We’ve done so much hard work. Now it’s time to put everything we’ve learned into action.
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