TOPS
A sunny afternoon, a crowded stadium and a great victory (38-33). This England-France was a real party on the other side of the Channel. Beyond having gleaned its 14th Six Nations tournament and its 12th Grand Slam, the English broke a formidable world record for women’s rugby: 58,498 spectators lined the bays of Twickenham! An excellent thing two years before the World Cup which will take place… in England.
The French were warned: Marlie Packer is difficult as possible on a pitch. “She has this annoying side, which is clearly voluntary. She tries to play with the nerves of her opponents, ”said Agathe Sochat before the meeting. She showed it again. Even if the captain of the Red Roses was guilty of faults which brought penalties to the Blue ones, in the 79th for example before Cyrielle Banet’s try, Packer once again showed that she was an excellent player. The number 7 was in all the right moves, especially in the first period, and scored an important try, the second for his team (26th).
Yes, the second act of the French team could only be better than the first (33-0 at halftime for the English). But all the same, it took this courage and this desire for rebellion. Such a burst shows that the Blues have quality and can put a formation like England in great difficulty. The finalists of the last World Cup were shaken up in rare proportions and, even if one can consider that the victory was already assured, they were scared before the end when Cyrielle Banet scored the fifth French test. In the end, Les Bleues inflicted a scathing 33-5 on their opponent in the second act.
FLOPS
For her 78th and last international match, the number 10 tricolor is completely missed. Her long story with Les Bleues is coming to an end and the last chapter has something to make her bitter. From the start, she foiled and her missed penalty (5th) when her team had taken the match by the right end immediately hurt. Her hand fault on a good situation (9th) confirmed that she was not in the game. To crown her sad first half, she was guilty of a voluntary forward when intercepting an opposing offensive (32nd), synonymous with a yellow card. In the second half, she recovered, like her team, but missed a conversion (76) which would have allowed Les Bleues to pick up more.
How to explain that the Blue did not score the slightest point after such a first quarter of an hour. Biting from the start, the French players quickly asphyxiated their hosts but fished in the last gesture. Jessy Trémoulière (5th) missed a full axis penalty and let a ball escape on an interesting offensive about to succeed (9th). By dint of pushing in vain, the Blues were punished on the first English incursion (17th) by conceding a try after a counter-attack from more than 60 meters.
Between Marlie Packer’s essay and Zoe Aldcroft’s, 15 minutes passed. A sufficiently long period of time to see the English planted 4 tries and to see Jessy Trémoulière (32nd) and Rose Bernadou (37th) receiving yellow cards. The Blues, rather well in place until then, saw an imposing English wave sweeping over them. This boost from the Red Roses was fatal for captain Audrey Forlani and her teammates, the gap being made at half-time (33-0).
