France – New Zealand. Faced with the reigning world champions, the French women gave everything, were heroic in defense but missed the victory penalty. The final escapes them for nothing (24-25).
10:29 – Thank you and see you soon
Thank you to all of you for accompanying us to follow the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup where the French women came close to achieving a feat against the New Zealanders and a historic qualification in the final.
10:15 – Les Bleues to one point, the summary of the match
We dare not imagine the pressure that suddenly fell on Caroline Drouin’s shoulders at this precise moment of the match. There were a handful of seconds left to play in this semi-final at Eden Park in Auckland against New Zealand and after an intervention by video assistance, the referee had just offered a penalty at 30 meters in the axis to France. At the end of the foot, the 26-year-old tricolor striker held the sesame for the final of the World Cup. It only remained for her to finish the job, she who had missed nothing until then. Moments that we wait almost a lifetime. There was no doubt that she was going to get there and yet everything was derailed and the dream fled like this ball too rolled up leaving on the left of the posts. Moments later, the New Zealanders were tapping into the sidelines and exulting. Opposite, the Blue collapsed, weary of war. The crestfallen faces, the eyes filled with tears betrayed the pain of having let slip a feat and the right to believe in their lucky stars. A painful final not up to a semi-final yet admirably negotiated.
One could fear the New Zealand furia, fueled by popular fervor and led by the untenable Portia Woodman, it was not. Indeed, there was only blue for nearly half an hour. From the start, the French took the game on their own. Without complex, they pressed where it hurt, showing themselves conquering and pushing their opponents to the fault. Following a good movement, the comeback Romane Ménager scored the first try of the match establishing French domination. Taken in the engagement, certainly tense by the stake, the Black Ferns were very pale and scratched against the curtain of tricolor barbed wire. If Flhuler sounded the alarm clock by scoring a try on the first big highlight of his own, this did not faze Les Bleues who were well into their business and who signed a second try full of authority just before the break after a new colossal work from the forwards and concludes with the power of Gaëlle Vernier. After 40 minutes of play, the Eden Park public felt the blow and saw everything blue, its players having been extinguished by the commitment and the meticulousness of the opponent.
Everything was going almost like a dream for the French women. Their mistake may have been not to be wary enough. On an innocuous ball clearing away, Holmes, not really brilliant on foot throughout the meeting, hit the back of the tricolor defense. Boulard was first on the ball but behind her Tui pressured, extended with a knee and was quickest to flatten just before the ball went behind the in-goal. Barely three minutes after the restart, the world champions had almost picked up, Holmes not missing on foot. This was the beginning of a strong black time which lasted about twenty minutes. A terrible tunnel where the Blues lost their footing, multiplying the faults and conceding a third try relegating them to 8 lengths. Hermet and his partners could have sunk but they raised their heads as if convinced that a feat was possible. After all, they had nothing to envy their opponents. Better, they seemed more compact and serene. More conquering too and it was following a new perfectly executed touch that Romane Ménager gave hope to his own by coming to drive the New Zealand defense under the posts. Only one point remained, a miserable point. The exclusion for ten minutes of N’Diaye did not facilitate tricolor business but the defense did what was necessary not to concede anything and continue to believe in it. The opportunity came on this final penalty against the posts but Drouin did not manage to give the coup de grace. The feat had just slipped through the fingers of French women who had never been so close to reaching the final. We will therefore have to be content once again with the match for third place. Frustrating after such a performance which would certainly have deserved a better conclusion. From this pain, the Blues will have to make it a driving force and use it to convince themselves that they have largely the level of their ambitions. It starts with going for the podium against the Canadians, the first stone of a new adventure invented in the antipodes.
10:00 – 11/11
Defeated four times in their 4 test matches in the fall of 2021 (twice by France and twice by England, editor’s note), New Zealand are undefeated in 2022 and now have 11 consecutive victories.
09:50 – Darracq: “Very frustrating because there was room”
“The girls played a big game and what we expected of them. The Black Ferns wanted to take us on the rhythm but we defended very well. Our foot faults still cost us a lot tonight. We had the match point, the winning penalty… It’s very frustrating because there was room”said France coach Thomas Darracq.
09:43 – N’Diaye: “We were close to the feat”
“We are very sad. I didn’t give the team what I should have given them when I came back”regretted Safi N’Diaye, who collected a yellow card shortly after coming into play, before adding. “We were close to the feat. We keep a bitter taste in our mouths. We have to digest and we will give everything to get third place.”
09:36 – The final remains out of reach
Unlike the men who have climbed there three times (1987, 1999 and 2011), the players of the XV of France have always failed in their quest to reach the final of the World Cup. During the first edition in 1991, they were stopped by the English (0-13), as in 1994 (6-18) and 2017 (3-20). Four other times, the door had closed in front of them, slammed three times in a row by the New Zealanders in 2002 (0-30), 2006 (10-40)) and 2010 (7-45), and once by the Canadian (16-18 in 2014). This new defeat against the Black Ferns is added to this list which continues to grow.
09:33 – Hermet: “We are disappointed”
“We are disappointed because we would have liked to create this story, to get something. We showed heart like throughout the competition and the score attests to the ferocity of the match. It’s hard, we’ll have to digest but we have a third place to look for”reacted with tears to the eyes the captain of the France team Gaëlle Hermet at the microphone of TF1.
09:25 – Les Bleues fail in the semi-finals (24-25)
The final refuses once again to the France team. Heroic in defense, conquerors throughout and authors of three tries, the French women made the New Zealanders doubt and even had the match point but Drouin missed his penalty and offered victory to world champions, relieved to get out of the almost perfect trap of the Blue ones.
09:23 – Drouin tears himself apart!
While she had a ball to send France into the final, 30 meters full axis, Drouin wraps her penalty too much which leaks on the left. The Blues will regret it.
09:21 – Yellow card against Taumata!
After viewing the images on the French action, Taumata receives a yellow and goes out for 10 minutes. The pillar is guilty of a high tackle to the chin of Sochat. Penalty to follow for the Bleues who will finish the match on the numerical superiority as soon as N’Diaye comes back into play. Especially the penalty can allow the French women to go back in front. It is 30 meters away, full axis. It’s a final shot!
09:18 – The lost ball
While the attack is fluid, Escudero returns his race but misplaces the ball on his backward pass. The New Zealanders throw themselves on the ball on the ground and recover.
09:18 – The great French comeback
Les Bleues recovered the ball 30 meters from their in-goal and began a great comeback by sweeping the width in both directions. On the right wing, Grisez almost reaches the 22 opposing meters.
09:15 – Escudero returned
Escudero attacks the line but is received by Fitzpatrick who tilts it back. The Frenchwoman is then penalized for keeping the ball on the ground.
09:14 – New Zealanders still at fault
We feel an urgency in the New Zealand game like a fear that the semi-final will go wrong. Out of touch, the Black Ferns and Bremner collapse the tricolor maul. Penalty for the French who go into touch 30 meters from the opposing in-goal.
09:13 – Hermet also imposes
The New Zealanders attack in disorder on the left wing and Grisez closes his side well. She then receives help from Hermet who puts his hands on the ball in the opposing arms. The French captain is well planted on her supports and collects a penalty which will allow the French women to get out of their half of the field.
09:12 – Khalfaoui scratching
The French give their body in defense and do it wonderfully. On the ground, Khalfaoui snatches the ball in the opposing arms when we had entered the 22 French meters.
09:11 – The throw stolen by the Blues
Connor’s throw is blocked by the tricolor jumper on the halfway line. The French can reverse the pressure.
09:08 – N’Diaye expelled 10 minutes
The French will have to play at 14 for most of the end of the match. Indeed, after watching video, it is estimated that N’Diaye made a high tackle on Leti-L’Iga, his shoulder hitting the chin of the New Zealander. Yellow card against the second-line tricolor.
09:06 – N’Diaye at fault
Leti-L’Iga has joined the attack line and comes to play percussion. She goes into contact with N’Diaye and demolishes her to advance. The French second line concedes a penalty.
09:05 – Lindelauf comes out injured
Coming into play ten minutes ago, Lindelauf must give up his place, hit in the knee. Back on the lawn of Annaëlle Deshaye.
09:01 – Drouin transformation (24-25)
France returns to a point after Drouin is responsible for transforming under the posts (24-25). Everything is still possible in this semi-final, fifteen minutes from the end.
08:59 – Ménager’s double (22-25)!
Superb reaction from the French. After a good touchdown on the opposing 22 meters and a hard-hitting maul, N’Diaye leads the way by tearing the curtain. The Black Ferns do not have time to reform in defense and under the posts, Ménager signs a double by flattening in force (22-25).
08:58 – Double change for the Blues
Coaching continues on the French side with the entries of N’Diaye, who is observing his 90th selection, and Jacquet replacing Fall and Marine Ménager.
08:57 – Demant takes the break (17-25)
Facing the posts, 20 meters away, Demant increases the gap in favor of the Black Ferns and forces the French to score at least twice to come back (17-25).
08:55 – French women in pain
The French are bending against the rhythm of the New Zealanders. They can no longer stop them from picking up speed and the breakthroughs are multiplying. Behind a won scrum, Murray reverses a Tricolor and escapes within 22 meters before receiving support from Demant. The game bounces to the left wing and Leti-L’Iga which is well stopped by Boulard. We come back to a fault by Ménager 20 meters in front of the posts.
France: 1. Deshaye, 2. Sochat, 3. Joyeux – 4. Ferer, 5. Fall – 6. Hermet ©, 7. Escudero, 8. R. Ménager – 9. Bourdon, 10. Drouin – 11. M. Ménager , 12. Vernier, 13. Filopon, 14. Grisez – 15. Boulard.
New Zealand: 1. Love, 2. Ponsonby, 3. Rule – 4. Roos, 5. C. Brenmer – 6. A. Brenmer, 7. Mikaele-Tu’u, 8. Hirini – 9. Cocksedge, 10. Demant © – 11. Woodman, 12. Fitzpatrick, 13. Fluhler, 14. Tui – 15. Holmes.