Despite a messy first period, the French women's rugby team largely dominated Italy (40-7) for its entry into the Six Nations Tournament. A successful bet for the new coach François Ratier who bet on a major upheaval within the French women's XV, by bringing in six new recruits with zero selections in total on the match sheet.

Published on: 04/11/2026 - 5:47 p.m.

The French women's XV opened the Six Nations Tournament with a big victory by correcting Italy 40 to 7 and six tries to one, Saturday April 11 at the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble, after a messy first half.

With their new coach François Ratier, the Blues finally won quite easily after returning to the locker room, thanks in particular to the power of their pack. But they stammered in their rugby for a long time, six months after their disappointing fourth place at the 2025 World Cup in England.

“We want to be able to play 80 minutes and torture them in front,” announced the coach of the Bleues, ex-manager of the Stade Bordeaux but above all ex-coach of the Canadians, whom he led to the final of the 2014 World Cup in France.

But on Saturday its players forgot to get into the match for a long time, first letting the Nazionale monopolize the ball for ten minutes, before increasing the number of approximations until half-time.

Successful bet

Passes into the void, dives into regroupments, excess haste: the Blues wasted numerous opportunities, notably with this try by Joanna Grisez canceled at the half-hour mark or this stupidly wasted penalty (35th) after each time the Blue maul was completely dislocated.

Successor to the duo Gaëlle Mignot - David Ortiz, Ratier had carried out a major upheaval within the French women's XV, with three players with zero selections at kick-off and six in total on the match sheet.

And the bet was successful, with the only try of the first period signed by Catalan winger from Clermont Anaïs Grando (21st), on a decisive pass from Toulouse fullback Pauline Barrat, who was also showing off the blue jersey, at the end of a perfectly played penalty this time.

Third novice in the starting XV, Clermont hooker Mathilde Lazarko particularly stood out for her defensive activity, with already 14 tackles in the first 30 minutes.

"We expected it to be complicated from the start, especially at the start of the tournament, that we had approximations, that was expected," assured the former coach of the Canadian finalists at the 2014 World Cup: "We would have hoped to erase them after about fifteen minutes, but we were slow on the rucks and we couldn't get our game in place."

“There were technical imperfections linked largely to tension,” according to the former manager of the Stade Bordeaux femmes. “But we didn’t put pressure on the young people, we wanted them to take advantage of the moment, to savor it,” explained Ratier.

A “Vauban” defense

Long muddled offensively, as evidenced by this action where Grando completely forgot his captain Manae Feleu inside (52nd), the Blues, on the other hand, left no space for the Italian attackers. If the offensive combinations remain to be worked on, the "Vauban" defensive system concocted by Ratier, in homage to the military architect of Louis XIV, has been assimilated!

After the second blue test, signed by the opener Carla Arbez (44th), it was paradoxically a twist of fate, the injury exit of Grisez (47th), which unlocked the French XV, with first this 100% pillars test, initiated by a framing-overflow from Assia Khalfaoui and concluded by Yllana Brosseau (54th), who had just replaced Ambre Mwayembe. Then the bonus try, a new forward try, with Khalfaoui at the conclusion this time, after a penalty (60th).

Read alsoRugby: the unstoppable Louis Bielle-Biarrey delights the Blues and panics the counters

Before Toulouse winger Léa Murie (70th) then her partner Barrat (75th) finally gave the score a magnitude not necessarily deserved given the match.

Having left Twickenham with their heads down on September 27 after a 42-26 slap in the small final of the World Cup against the New Zealand Black Ferns, the Blues found some color again, before going to face the Welsh in a week at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, then hosting the Irish in Clermont-Ferrand on April 25.

With AFP

Keywords associated with the article

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.