Pauline Bourdon Sansus, arguably France’s greatest feminine participant, will sit out the opening match of France’s Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 marketing campaign after choosing up a two-match suspension for her feedback about refereeing requirements within the home Elite 1 competitors on the finish of Might.
Scrum-half Bourdon Sansus was banned after telling journalists ‘honest and constant’ refereeing was ‘not but the case’ within the French home girls’s sport, after her Toulouse facet had misplaced 32-24 to Stade Bordelais within the ultimate at Stade Marcel Michelin on Might thirty first.
The skilled and talismanic quantity 9 will miss the warm-up match in opposition to England on August ninth in Mont-de-Marsan and the World Cup opener in opposition to Italy at Sandy Park on August twenty third. She will probably be out there for the second group match, in opposition to Brazil, on the identical venue on August thirty first.
Within the meantime, France will depend on Grenoble’s Alexandra Chambon and Bourdon Sansus’s Toulouse team-mate Océane Bordes.
Coach Gaëlle Mignot took the information that certainly one of France’s star gamers can be absent for the essential first sport in her stride. At a press convention on Wednesday marking the beginning of the squad’s pre-tournament preparations, she mentioned: “It’s a topic that always comes up when a key participant will get injured, or isn’t on the staff sheet.
“Our goal is to arrange this squad for all eventualities. We don’t need to be depending on one participant. There are gamers in her place who’ve proven they’re completely able to beginning matches. Gabrielle Vernier additionally missed matches within the [Six Nations]. The squad is prepared.”
She speaks from expertise. Whereas Bourdon Sansus will miss a single match in England, France head to the World Cup with out one other big-game participant. Backrow Romane Ménager revealed in Might that she is going to take a six-month break from the sport following repeated head accidents – and plans to spend extra time enjoying sevens in future.
Regardless of the early participant unhealthy information, France’s co-captains Marine Ménager and Manae Feleu mentioned the 38-player squad had been “wanting to spend [the next] three months collectively”.
Ménager, who will name time on her enjoying profession on the finish of France’s World Cup problem, admitted that Les Bleues’ robust Six Nations’ run earlier this yr meant that – in a World Cup yr – the highlight on the ladies’s squad was brighter than normal.
“I feel there are extra expectations as we speak,” she mentioned, “however I feel it’s a really optimistic factor. It implies that individuals are watching us extra, that they’re being attentive to our performances and following us.
“For as soon as, we actually need to deal with the optimistic facet. We’re additionally fortunate to have people who find themselves very sort to us. I feel the unfavourable feedback after the England match could be counted on the fingers of 1 hand. We acquired loads of messages of encouragement, pleasure too, from the followers.”
That positivity has helped, however France have been working arduous on their psychological in addition to bodily preparation. “We’ve been constructing for 3 years,” Ménager mentioned. “This yr, we’ve refined issues. We’re focusing extra on the main points, on the sphere, off the sphere, and even with our preparation techniques.
“It was clear to see within the Six Nations. Bodily, we had been prepared, we felt nice. Mentally, we had a couple of areas to work on, however we’re coming collectively as a bunch, we’re managing to take it to the subsequent degree, to debate totally different points of psychological preparation.”
Feleu mentioned {that a} probably troublesome opener in opposition to Italy can be a super begin to France’s World Cup problem: “Italy are all the time particular matches. They’re a staff that may shock us – you by no means understand how they’re going to go.
“They’ve a sport that’s fairly much like ours. They wish to play the ball. They’re instinctive gamers and so they’ve been getting higher and higher over the previous few years. Beginning with Italy goes to be superb – it’ll put us straight into the sport.”
Co-coach David Ortiz sees additional challenges deeper into France’s group-phase matches: “We’ve very totally different staff profiles: an Italian staff that performs like us, a South African staff that may impose a robust and direct sport, a Brazilian staff that may trigger us some uncertainty, [because] they’re a staff we all know little about.
“Finally, what we see in our journey is the chance to proceed to develop and the sequence of those matches ought to enable us to achieve energy after which, clearly, goal for our ‘ultimate’ goal.”
And Mignot looked to the past for a path forward: “The [Six Nations] match in England has whetted our urge for food and made us actually need to maintain going and push arduous, as a result of we really feel that we aren’t removed from turning issues round in a method that will probably be extraordinarily optimistic for everybody.
“Our place as we speak is extra of an outsider for the World Cup, however I consider that our clear goal is to do all the pieces we are able to to go all the best way.”
First, although, is a slightly extra urgent engagement. “I’m getting married this weekend,” Ménager mentioned. “It’s a rugby marriage ceremony, so perhaps there will probably be a display exhibiting the Top 14 final.”
