Real estate agents call this a “crush.” On Sunday April 14, the French women’s rugby team felt at home in a new home: the Jean-Bouin stadium, in the southwest of Paris. Les Bleues won an improved victory against Italy (38-15) on the third day of the Six Nations Tournament. In the rankings, they remain in contact with England, with a view to competing for final victory. “Being able to really play at home, because we always train in the Marcoussis [Essonne] region, it’s great,” anticipated third row Romane Ménager before the match.
The last time that the Tricolores took over a stadium in the capital was during the 2014 World Cup, a time when women’s competitions were more confidential. At the Jean-Bouin stadium, the French XV narrowly lost in the semi-final of the tournament against Canada. The current co-selector Gaëlle Mignot was then the captain of the team. Ten years later, it was in front of well-stocked stands that his troops delivered a successful performance, two weeks after a painful victory in Scotland.
From the second minute, after alternating between a kick over the defense, the sequence of forwards and the wide play, the center of the Stade Bordeaux Nassira Kondé flattens in goal. Lina Queyroi then succeeds in the transformation between the pink poles of the Stade français enclosure (7-0, 4th). Put on the back foot by the Italians, the French defense held up the shock. Then, following a ball scratched by Nassira Kondé, Annaëlle Deshaye showed her power to force the passage between two Italian players and score her team’s second try (14-3, 24th).
Six tricolor tests
Faced with a transalpine team reduced to 14 against 15, following the yellow card addressed to Sara Tounesi for a collapsed maul, spaces opened up in front of the French. The third row Charlotte Escudero concludes a model game launch, after a fixation point (21-3, 33rd), then Mélissande Llorens, forgotten in the corner and served at the foot by her teammate at Blagnac, Lina Queyroi, adds another layer to the picture blue. At the break, the bonus point is already acquired (26-3).
The pillar Assia Khalfaoui amplifies the score starting at the level of a regrouping (33-3, 45th), before a strong sixth try from Madoussou Fall (38-10, 64th). But the best achievement of the afternoon was to be attributed to the Italian winger Alyssa D’Inca, after a sixty-meter race, all to score a double, after a first test previously registered in the second half. Two weeks ago, his team had a notable performance by winning in Ireland. And it was precisely an Irishwoman, Joy Neville, who, at the age of 40, bowed out as an international referee by blowing the final whistle on the victory of Les Bleues.
“It’s the benchmark match for us in this tournament,” said opening half Lina Queyroi at the France 2 microphone at the end of the match, looking towards the trip to Wales on Sunday April 21. Before meeting up with her teammates to celebrate the victory with the public.
