‘Frustrating but not worrying’: What success looks like for France at WXV Global Series

A niche rugby record was broken in Lyon on the opening weekend of WXV Global Series 2026. New Zealand became the first side other than England to beat France on home soil since November 2018.

That defeat nearly eight years ago – 14-0 in Toulon – was also at the hands of the Black Ferns. It means New Zealand and England are now the only sides to have beaten Les Bleues in France since Canada knocked them out of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2014 in Paris.

It could need updating again, soon. After facing Australia in Aix-en-Provence on September 19, France, fourth in the world, will complete the European leg of their WXV Global Series challenge against third-placed Canada – who comfortably beat Scotland in Edinburgh at the weekend – in La Rochelle on September 26.

“Today was tough,” Les Bleues’ bullish head coach Francois Ratier admitted after Saturday’s 14-28 loss at Stadium de Gerland.

“Nobody likes losing at home, but we have a path to follow. It’s going to be hard, but we have to go for it because this path will allow us to be world champions in three years.”

Ratier was hired last November on a two-plus-two-year deal to take over from Gaelle Mignot and David Ortiz after France’s fourth-place finish at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

The job description for the role stated the successful candidate would be expected to, “contribute to the design, implementation, and management of an ambitious performance project aimed at leading the French Women’s XV to the World Cup title in 2029”.

So, he would put a positive spin on France’s second defeat in as many outings against sides ranked higher than them, following their loss to England on the final day of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations in May.

But he and his team genuinely believe they have reason, despite the defeat, despite losing ranking ground to the top three, to be quietly content with their performance and where they stand on the route he’s taking them down. This is not a save point in his development game plan.

“We can see where we’re falling short, particularly when it comes to capitalising on our momentum,” Ratier insisted. “It’s the first international of the season and there were periods where we looked dangerous.”

He could point, for example, to first-time captain Pauline Bourdon Sansus’ late first-half try, created by winger Léa Murie, who stepped and glided past several defenders in limited room out wide before passing inside to the perfectly positioned scrum-half.

Or Murie’s own near-score early in the second half, ruled out on review for a forward pass by Axelle Berthoumieu, when she ripped through the Black Ferns’ defence after picking up the ball on halfway that could have changed the makeup of the rest of the match. Certainly France had the momentum at the time.

Then there was Lina Queyroi’s touchdown with 13 minutes remaining, in which she finished off a superb team move that she had started with a well-judged chip. The ball passed through the hands of Gabrielle Vernier and Kelly Arbey before finding its way back to the replacement fly-half.

Queyroi’s crowd-pleaser put France, briefly, back within touching distance with New Zealand, with the score at 14-21 and the crowd at their backs. But, four minutes later back-row Mia Anderson – a first-half try-scorer herself – broke through the defence one last time, and shipped the ball to Liana Mikaele-Tu’u for the final score of the game.

Ratier wasn’t the only one seeing more positives than negatives from the wrong side of the result. Pitchside in the immediate aftermath, prop Assia Khalfaoui told broadcaster France 2: “[New Zealand are] a team who set a high tempo and are very solid. We were a little behind them [in preparation]… but we weren’t completely out of it.

“We still have work to do, but this is the beginning of something. We’re fourth in the world, they’re second, and they made us feel it.”

And Bourdon Sansus told journalists: “This was our first game back. We obviously wanted to win – but they were better than us.

“Defensively, we showed a lot of fight and aggression. Offensively, we still have to improve but that’s normal after just two weeks of team training. We’re going to analyse this match, correct our mistakes and not repeat them in the coming weeks.”

She’s not wrong about Les Bleues’ defensive fight – Siobhan Soqeta’s try-saving effort to deny Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu touching down for what would have been New Zealand’s third first-half score was the eye-catching highlight of a generally solid afternoon’s work without the ball for France.

And no one in the France set-up is denying that there’s still plenty to work on. Those missed lineouts; handling errors that stopped promising moves in their tracks; France’s inability to get in New Zealand’s 22 for much of the first half; blind alleys run down and chances blown – it’s always easy to brickbat the mistakes from the sidelines.

The trick is to find answers. France’s gameplan in Lyon relied on getting the ball out wide quickly to exploit the space New Zealand leave there. High-risk, high reward stuff. When it succeeds – as it did with both France’s tries. But the perfect passing it requires in the face of a defence as aggressive as New Zealand’s was missing in match one.

Ratier acknowledges the work ahead: “We have to capitalise on these moments. Physically, it’s impossible to absorb so many collisions and win back possession if we don’t [then] do anything with the ball. So, yes, it’s frustrating – but not worrying.

“We knew we wouldn’t be at international pace today.”

He went on: “Canada just put 60 points on Scotland, England 50 on Australia,” Ratier pointed out. “We’re a little behind those [two] teams, as well as New Zealand – but not that far off.

“These six matches over the next two months should help us make up some of that ground – how much? – we’ll see at the Six Nations.”

So, the save point for Ratier is the 2027 Women’s Six Nations. Then we should see a side dictate more, chase and react less. There’s still a certain amount of thinking time baked in to everything France do, which means they’re sometimes a little slow to react.

When, if, that becomes muscle memory, the speed will step up. Intriguing, if not yet exciting, times for Les Bleues.