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Joanna Grisez: "A big 20-minute lapse that cost us the match"
Undone by a disastrous start, Les Bleues narrowly lost to England (43-42) on Saturday evening at Twickenham, where the Red Roses secured their seventh consecutive Women’s Six Nations title.
Dominated in the first 20 minutes, the French showed impressive spirit to claw their way back, despite suffering a 15th consecutive defeat to their nemesis.
“Today we showed that we can compete with this team,” said co-captain Manae Feleu, her voice filled with emotion. “I don’t think many people believed in us before the game.
“All week, we were told we were going to lose. Today, we proved everyone wrong. We’re just one point behind, and now we’ll meet them again at the World Cup next summer.
“Today, we just wanted to play and show some good rugby. We never gave up until the last minute. I’m really proud of the girls. Congratulations to England, they showed how strong they are.
“Scoring six tries at Twickenham shows that the work we’ve been putting in since the last World Cup is starting to pay off.”
For France, the script was sadly familiar, a repeat of 2023: England overwhelmed the Bleues from the start, scoring five tries in 20 minutes. With dominant mauls, speed in open play, and control at the breakdown, England seized control.
The French, reduced to 14 after a yellow card for Khalfaoui, struggled but managed to stay within ten points at halftime (31-21) thanks to tries from Arbez, Bourdon-Sansus, and Ménager.
In the second half, despite another English try by Aldcroft, France fought back with a brilliant finish from 19-year-old Kelly Arbey and late tries from Bourgeois and Grisez.
“We had everything to prove and everything left to do,” Kelly Arbey reflected. “We needed to refocus and give everything, and I think that’s what we showed in the second half.”
“We just stuck to what we had said: if we wanted to beat England, we had to play freely,” explained Joanna Grisez. “And honestly, that big 20-minute lapse clearly cost us the match. But when we played without overthinking, we dominated — that was very clear.”
Back within one point, the Bleues nearly pulled off the upset before a final knock-on from the restart dashed their hopes.
“The message is clear: we have to keep working. If it’s not today, it will be this summer, and we’re really hoping for it. In rugby, you have to play, that’s what it’s about,” Grisez insisted.
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QUELLE ACCÉLÉRATION DE JOANNA GRISEZ 🤯
Les Bleues reviennent à 1 point. 🥵
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— Six Nations (FR) (@SixNations_FR) April 26, 2025
France co-head coach Gaëlle Mignot described the result as an “encouraging defeat” to build on, while her counterpart David Ortiz praised the team’s determination: “You could feel the arm-wrestle out there. That’s exactly what we asked of the players — to be in the fight during the money time, because we knew the game would be decided there.
“We hit that goal. Now we just need to be more clinical at the start of matches to put more pressure on and finish them the way we want to.”