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What to know about Ireland's opposition this week: Mignot and Ortiz's France
Co-head coach David Ortiz was ‘ecstatic’ on Sunday, as Les Bleues confirmed top spot in Pool D, and a date with Ireland in the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup quarters.
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There’s a mantra we keep hearing from those who genuinely believe they can poop England’s party, and that’s ‘we don’t need to be perfect yet’. Alana Bremner, Stacey Flood, and Alex Tessier have each emphasised that they’re building into this competition, which is exactly what you could say of France.
They ground their way past an ill-fated Italy in their opener and we wondered how costly that elusive try bonus point might prove. The answer? Rien. A footnote. Chip paper. 14 and then nine tries against Brazil and South Africa, and improvements across the board, proved that scoring power’s not an issue – and Marine Menager and co have moved through the gears from ‘underwhelming’ to ‘competent’, and since found ‘decidedly menacing.’
In numbers: the world number fours are top of the pops for offloads, second for points scored, and third for clean breaks, whilst – sorry to be boring, but this really does matter – without receiving a single card, and conceding a meagre seven penalties per 80.
This all requires contextualising – D was a paddling pool compared to the Bermuda Triangles of A or B – but you can only play what’s in front of you, and – once you’ve a ticket in the knockouts tombola – you’re, by definition, in with a shot at the giant fluffy monkey.
World Cup history: Appropriately, given cliché’s etymology: there are a lot of them surrounding Les Bleues and their rugby. You never know which France will turn up, after all – and don’t they just love to jouez jouez? That’s when they’re not brain-farting, of course – with their omnipotent, swashbuckling scrum halves and hare-brained selection policy that you may not feature in the national side’s back line unless your surname starts with a ‘B’.
Then there’s the fact that, come rugby’s big dance, they’re perennial bridesmaids: lunging for the bouquet, but only ever coming up with a bronze medal. Nine contested: an astonishing seven third-place finishes. Just as France 7s are the best team to have never won an event on the Series – Les Bleues are, by a mile, the best team to have never contested a World Cup final.
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And they’ve never come closer than last time out – when they fought like tigers, in enemy territory – and until their lungs were sodden with lactic, their legs wheezed, and they had clawed the gap between themselves and the Black Ferns down to a single point. With 70 seconds to play, they were thrown the life jacket of a 30-metre penalty before the sticks – which Caroline Drouin promptly hacked wide. Those in blue were bereft, and New Zealand officially as jammy as they come.
Last cycle: We might as well wring this national stereotype dry: the last three years have been a distinctly French shrug of the shoulders and uh.
Perhaps due to domestic commitments, or perhaps a more concerning lack of funding and/or impetus – Les Bleues don’t play outside of Six Nations or WXV. In the former, they’re creatures of habit: win every game to set up a Grand Slam decider, turn up for – at most – 40 minutes, and play some utterly sensational rugby en route to watching the Red Roses lift the trophy.
In the latter, they’ve dribbled home fifth on both occasions: a wonderful, wonderful win against New Zealand in 2023 followed by defeats to Australia and Canada – and then a laborious victory over the Eagles in 2024 in between schoolings by the world number twos and threes. Co-head coach Gaëlle Mignot was unflinching in her assessment: “we didn’t belong in this competition.”
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Ahead of this tournament, they arranged just the one tune-up, and – frankly – it was un désastre. They spent the entire evening conceding penalties against the English, walking back into their own 22 for the ensuing line out, and then being flattened to the tune of seven points. 40-6 in Mont-de-Marsan. The plan was a warm-up: the reality a flambé.
Coaches: Mignot is a legend of French rugby. The nuggety hooker competed at two World Cups, captained Les Bleues on multiple occasions, was twice nominated for World Player of the Year, and was a Montpellier cornerstone for over a decade before returning, a tracksuited trailblazer, to coach their men. An assistant for 2022’s showdown – with a focus on the scrum and contact area – she and David Ortiz succeeded Thomas Darracq that December.
Ortiz spent time with Union Bordeaux-Bégles’ Academy and Agen before his appointment as a defence and line out specialist for the campaign down in New Zealand, and has loved working alongside Mignot in their rare, collaborative approach right at the very top.
By all accounts, things get pretty feisty around selection – but they always, eventually, reach a conclusion – they split media and management duties, and then they’ve a few key personnel around them to add the finishing touches.
Former utility back Sylvain Mirande leads on the (shock) backs, referee-turned-coach Alexandre Ruiz is speeding up their rucks, Jérémy Valls will pit his wits against Gareth Steenson in the kicking department on Sunday, and Laurent Thuéry – who moulds Toulouse’s defence – has been honing their exits.
Star players: Without their petite générale, Pauline Bourdon-Sansus, France sputter. With her they shimmer. In a muscular kind of way. It’s no coincidence that their tryless, toothless preseason tie with the Red Roses was during her two-match suspension for criticising match officials nor their lacklustre opener against the Azzurri.
She returned in a blaze of anarchic auburn locks and sumptuously delayed tip-ons for their demolition job of Brazil, and promptly got player of the match. The follow week – she was hoisting an identical crystal dorsal fin after taking all the sting out of that Springbok juggernaut. Yes, she can be guilty of overplaying, but she’s the team’s tactician, heartbeat, and metronome – and they must protect her at all costs.
Elsewhere, Émilie Boulard (four tries and six offloads) and Joanna Grisez (three tries and six clean breaks) are seemingly teflon-coated, the omnipresent Gabrielle Vernier is a magician on both sides, and Charlotte Escudero hits things as though she exists on impact and not oxygen.
Mignot and Ortiz ensured each player got a run-out by the end of round two, and have clearly striven to test combinations and assess versatility. Only Vernier, Menager, and Léa Champon have started every game so far and both Lina Queyroi and Morgane Bourgeois have had plenty of shots at goal.
Fun fact: One of the squad’s final pre-tournament sessions was as French as they come. The group were brought, in full kit, to Paris’ 7th arrondissement on a scorching July day for a conditioning session of… you guessed it: shuttles up and down the 674 stairs of the Eiffel Tower.
‘Mais, pourquoi?’ a highly-entertained news reporter quizzed Mignot midway through, having received only huffs and puffs from the players hauling themselves past him.
“It’s a powerful symbol of France and our ambitions,” she replied with a pant, before following her charges skyward.
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