VIDEO. 6th Nations Tournament: Les Bleues reach a final against England to finally secure victory

Joanna Grisez et les Bleues l’ont emporté sans trembler. EPA/AAP – ANDREW CORNAGA

On Sunday, the French XV logically and largely beat Wales (40-0) in Cardiff, securing, as expected, a final against England. The English XV, five-time defending champion, will be next Saturday (5:45 p.m.) in Bordeaux.

With an improved victory against Wales on Sunday, the Blues consolidated their second place behind the English, which they will return to on the last day, at the Chaban-Delmas stadium, where more than 18,000 tickets have already been sold. sold. This meeting between the two flagship nations of European rugby is “the” meeting that French and English people wait for every year. Even if the Tricolores' last success in the Tournament dates back to 2018 and, since then, it has been the players from across the Channel who have dominated.

📹 Watch the highlights from today's match between Wales and France here 🤩 pic.twitter.com/zlSKFfSiBb

— Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 21, 2024

To achieve this final, the French had to put in a complete match against the Welsh, dead last in the 2024 edition. And even if their touch (six lost) and their discipline (three yellow cards) have seen better days, the play of the Blues, more realistic than their opponents, reassured, Sunday, ² in Cardiff, with six tries in his pocket, control and composure.

Identity and state of mind

"We need to work on the key,admitted the French co-coach, David Ortiz, after the match. Saturday, it will be a priority sector, on which we will have to rest. However, clearly today (Sunday, Editor's note), we ran out of ammunition because of our difficulties on the sidelines."

Captain Manae Feleu's teammates did the job, particularly in scrum and defense, a sector in which they are masters (no points conceded, 176 tackles, including 91% from successful). But the match started badly, with a yellow card for high tackle addressed in the second minute to the septist Anne-Cécile Ciofani, aligned on the wing for her first selection in XV. The best player in the world at Sevens in 2021 then quickly caught up, firing on all cylinders, like her teammates Joanna Grisez and Chloé Jacquet, other seven players who started in Cardiff.

These three players, Ortiz estimated, "had a complete match. They showed what they could bring us in terms of a change of pace and taking initiative, even if they lacked small details to refine, particularly in terms of placement.&quot ;

As a symbol of the precious contribution of the septists, it is logical that the last try of the Bleues was the work of Grisez, signing a double.