Rhona Lloyd ready for reunion with old coach François Ratier: "He empowers players to be decision makers"

Since 1295, Scotland and France have had a shared alliance, the Auld Alliance. Though never formally revoked, it remains a unifying – if somewhat unofficial – bond between the two old kingdoms to this day, even transcending to the sporting setting.

Scotland’s women know that more than most. Several key players have plied their trade in the French Elite 1 league over the past decade. Former captains Lisa Martin and Jade Konkel were the first to head over La Manche, playing for Lille Metropole.

Others have since followed: Helen Nelson spent a season at Montpellier, where back-rower Rachel McLachlan is now a regular starter, while Chloe Rollie remains a fan favourite at Toulon Provence Méditerranée.

Rhona Lloyd spent four seasons with Stade Bordelais, playing under current French coach François Ratier and knows a thing or two about the likely group of players taking to the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon.

Fixture

Womens Six Nations

Scotland Women

08:15

9 May 26

France Women

All Stats and Data

“We’re really excited to be playing at home again, France at home at always been a great fixture and the fans really get behind us,” Lloyd told RugbyPass.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed with how the last two games went for us, and even the end of the Wales game – although we won – we didn’t really play to our full potential. So, it’s all about building towards that putting on a show in front of our fans.

“I’ve played with a lot of the players in the French team, at Bordeaux we had a lot of internationals in the squad, so I probably know the players a lot more than some of the others both on and off the pitch!

“I guess it’s kind of an advantage, because I know how good some of those players are; they have some excellent players but so do we so it’s all about being aware of the threats they pose and the type of rugby they play, which is very different to a lot of other teams in this competition. So, we need to be diligent in the reviews that we do ahead of the game.

“After the game, I’ll definitely be sitting down with a few familiar faces, I look forward to that but there will be no niceties during the match!”

Lloyd missed the trip to Italy due to having to follow a concussion protocol but played a key role in her side’s hard-fought opening weekend victory over Wales in Cardiff.

Since then, Scotland have been under the cosh, losing heavily at home to England and then falling well short of their own expectations in a morale-sapping defeat to the Italians.

Injuries have also hampered the squad throughout the tournament, with Rachel McLachlan, Evie Wills and Hannah Walker all joining Emma Orr in being ruled out for the remainder of the Six Nations.

It’s far from ideal, but according to Lloyd, every setback is an opportunity for others to demonstrate their worth as the squad starts to build depth.

“We’ve had a few injuries in the squad but that gives other players an opportunity to work together and we’re definitely building towards the next World Cup, during this Six Nations, and getting comfortable in new combinations,” Lloyd said.

“There’s been glimpses of it so far, but we’re treating this as a development cycle and I’m sure it will start to pay off. The squad obviously looks a lot different to how it did at the World Cup, there have been a lot of changes and we are still finding our feet and getting used to those combinations.

“So, there is a bit of acknowledging that but at the same time, we want to meet the standards we’ve set for ourselves and keep moving Scotland up the world rankings. Sione [Fukofuka, Scotland’s head coach] has been great and we’re all really excited to be working with him. He wants to play an exciting brand of rugby.”

Two years ago, when France last came to Edinburgh, the match went right down to the wire, with only a late try from Emeline Gros giving the visitors some breathing space to come out 15-5 winners.

Sione Fukofuka’s squad are in desperate need of a performance to match their ability and ambition, and that may just come in front of another packed home crowd at the Hive. Whether the result comes with it remains to be seen, but Lloyd is hopeful that the week off between matches will have a positive impact.

Womens Six Nations

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

England Women

3

3

0

0

15

2

France Women

3

3

0

0

15

3

Italy Women

3

1

2

0

6

4

Ireland Women

3

1

2

0

5

5

Scotland Women

3

1

2

0

4

6

Wales Women

3

0

3

0

2

“The fallow week has given everybody an opportunity to reset properly, which is a good thing,” Lloyd added.

“When you’re playing games back-to-back, you’re reviewing the last game and then immediately focusing on the next one and that can come round really quickly. But with the fallow week, it gives us all a chance to review the previous game properly and to breathe a little, so we’ve definitely taken advantage of that.

“François is a brilliant coach, I absolutely loved being coached by him at Stade Bordelais; he really empowers players to be decision makers on the pitch and make decisions on the ball. He will have brought a lot of structure to the French squad which, maybe they didn’t have as much of in the past, so he’ll be wanting them to play in the right areas.

“It’s absolutely huge, the volume of the crowd at the Hive always helps us produce big moments and that was never more so the case than when we beat Ireland in the last-minute last year.

“When you’ve got the crowd behind you, it really empowers you to produce your best. Everyone talks about playing France away and how tough it is and that’s because they’ve got the support they have at home. To know we’ve got such amazing support at home is what we need to go out there and put in our best performance against France.”

Adversaries on the pitch, friends off it. Never has a rugby rivalry been more Jekyll and Hyde than between Scotland and France. The Auld Alliance will, of course, endure, but 80 minutes of all-out battle is certain to produce a humdinger of an encounter.