How France’s women set the gold standard
Les Bleues’ match with England tomorrow will show exactly why they are a rugby superpower
Better branding
The French Rugby Federation may be perceived to have lost its way in terms of how it manages the men’s side, but the women have always led the way in attracting mainstream support, with Top 14 clubs bidding for the honour to host women’s internationals.
With France’s women having beaten New Zealand for the first time in November, the federation announced last week that it was rebranding the France men officially as XV de France Masculin rather than XV de France. When England footballer Fran Kirby spoke of how she wished that one day her club side Chelsea would rebrand their men as Chelsea Men, the concept seemed far-fetched – but not in French rugby.
In the race for professionalism, England are winning the battle, as they have 28 fully professional players, while the French have 24 on part-time contracts. But many French players are equivalent to full-time pros, as they receive small salaries and match fees from their clubs, a development yet to happen elsewhere in the women’s game.
The French contracts when there were no deals for the England women’s XV. The Daily Telegraph understands that French deals had forced the Rugby Football Union’s hand in reintroducing contracts.
Mainstream support
Claire Purdy recalls playing for England Women A in the early 2000s in Toulon in front of a crowd of 4,000. At the time attendances in the hundreds were the norm for home nations internationals.
When you consider that 4,637 attended England Women’s Six Nations opener last week in Dublin, it shows how advanced French fans are. It does not end there. France’s opening fixture against Wales last week was played in Montpellier’s GGL Stadium and was advertised on television and around the city late last year alongside Montpellier’s Champions Cup game against Newcastle, the two matches getting equal billing.
Starting girls young
In Doncaster tomorrow England will have to close down France’s instinctive style. The visitors also believe they have enough strength in depth to omit reigning world player of the year Jessy Tremouliere, who has been on sevens duty. Former Ireland international Paula Fitzpatrick believes this skill and talent comes from a culture where it has been long the norm for girls to play mini-rugby with boys. “The standard there is brilliant in terms of skills because they have all been playing rugby since they were five or six years old,” she says. “In France, they don’t differentiate between boys and girls as they do in the UK or Ireland, particularly in the south, as they are rugby mad. Your kids will play rugby no matter if they are boys or girls.
“It is not that the England girls haven’t got the flair but the French have the ability to turn it on and off. I played with their second row, Lenaig Corson, for the Women’s Barbarians and her ability to offload is amazing.”
Embracing diversity
The saying “If you cannot see it, then you cannot be it” is used increasingly in relation to women’s sport. In order to attract more girls, sport needs to target all of society and the French women’s side have done this well through their multicultural squads.
During the 2014 Women’s World Cup in France, Les Bleues helped to cultivate an image similar to the 1998 football World Cup-winning side, through black players such as Safi N’diaye and Sandrine Agricole, who is now the national side’s physiotherapist. This perception has stuck, and as a result rugby attracts young girls from diverse backgrounds, resulting in a bigger and better talent pool.