The players of the French rugby team face those of England, winners of the 2025 and previous six nations tournament, in Mont-de-Marsan, Saturday evening.
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A crunch at the top to get in legs. Two weeks before its entry into the World Cup, the XV of France defies England in a preparation test match, Saturday August 9, at the Guy stadium and André Boniface in Mont-de-Marsan (at 9:10 p.m. live on France 4 and France.TV). Faced with the Red Roses, septruples defeated the six-nations tournament and the best world team, the Bleues will have the opportunity to gauge themselves after several weeks of preparation, and to repeat their ranges before major events from the end of the summer. Franceinfo: Sport presents the challenges of the meeting.
Show or hide your game?
It is often the big unknown of preparation matches before major competitions: should you be a strategist and hide your game or show your strength, even if it means revealing it too much, or risking starting too early? For the Blue, the question does not arise. “I think that we are not too much in order to show too much or to keep it too much. Each match is different, so this warm-up, we are really keen to make an impression. And beyond that, to gauge all this preparation, everything we did upstream”assured the center of the Bordeaux stadium Nassira Kondé, absent from the match sheet on Saturday evening.
Prove that they can (finally) drop the English
Since the 2018 Six Nations Tournament, the French have no longer beat the English. Since 15 games, the Blue has come up against this white wall. To become the first French world champions, the opportunity is good to prove that they can overthrow the best. “Today, there is nothing better than English, it’s a very good test […] Winning is to make an impression, to show that we are ready to attack this great competition “assured Morgane Bourgeois on the eve of the meeting. An objective that is also observed in the compositions. The tricolor staff thus aligned the frame of the standard team, with 11 of the 15 players aligned during the last crunch renewed. Opposite, the Red Roses also released the heavy artillery with many key players tenured on the lawn of Mont-de-Marsan, like Ellie Kildune, best player in the world in 2024, who had missed the last confrontation between the two teams in the tournament in April, concluded with a little point in the blue (43-42).
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Gauge yourself and work on the identified improvement axes
The meeting will also be used to work on points of progression identified before the World Cup. “We want to confront the best. To win, we have to confront the best. It is when we play this style of match that we really know where we are, points that we have to work”had assured Gaëlle Mignot, co-selector of the XV of France, at the end of June.
“Today, playing the Englishmen is important for the players is important for us because we will really know what we did during this preparation.”
Gaëlle Mignot, co-selected from the XV of Franceat a press conference
Some sectors have already been pointed out by the staff of the France team. “If I speak of one of my sectors, I think that today, Rucks’ work is something ultra-end that we have targeted, explained the co-selector. If we want to set up our game, which is a movement game, a game based on moving the ball, an initiative, winning duels, we will have to have a very precise and very clean ground game. ” First opportunity to show it on Saturday evening on the meal of the Guy stadium and André Boniface.
Prepare the start of the World Cup without Pauline Bourdon-Sansus
Faced with the Englishmen, the Blue will have to do without their half of melee Pauline Bourdon-Sansus. The Toulouse stadium player will serve the first of the two suspension games which she had received at the end of June for her criticism against arbitration after the Elite 1 final lost by her club against the Bordeaux stadium. “I believe that our will, what we have said to the girls for a very long time, it was to prepare this group to live all the eventualities. Inevitably each girl is of paramount importance in our team, but we do not want to be dependent on one”assured the co-selector Gaëlle Mignot at the end of June, taking for example the absence of the Gabrielle Vernier center in two games from the last tournament after receiving a red card against Ireland.
On the lawn of Stade Guy and André Boniface, the experienced number 9 (66 selections) will be replaced by Alexandra Chambon, the other half -profession in the group. On the bench, Lina Queyroi could, for example, help out to the post. “We are lucky to have versatile that allow us to cover the position”assured the co-selector David Ortiz during the announcement press conference on the list of 32 players selected for the World Cup. Especially since the absence of the post holder will continue in the first Bleues match at the World Cup, against Italy, the most formidable opponent of the hen on paper.
