France women's national rugby union team

France
Union	French Rugby Federation
Head coach	Gaëlle Mignot & David Ortiz
Captain	Gaëlle Hermet
First colours	Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	4 (as of 15 July 2024)
Highest	2 (2005–2006, 2015–2016)
Lowest	6 (2008–2009)
First international
	Netherlands 0–4 France ; (Utrecht, Netherlands; 13 June 1982)
Biggest win
	France 99–0 Japan ; (Edinburgh, Scotland; 17 April 1994)
Biggest defeat
	France 0–109 New Zealand ; (Edmonton, Canada; 14 September 1996)
World Cup
Appearances	9 (First in 1991)
Best result	3rd place, 1991, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2017 and 2021

The France women's national rugby union team represents France in women's international rugby union. They played the first-ever women's rugby union test match against the Netherlands on 13 June 1982. They compete annually in the Women's Six Nations Championship and have placed third in seven of nine Rugby World Cup's.

History

Source: "Des Filles en Ovalie", Éditions Atlantica (2005), Written by Jacques Corte / Yaneth Pinilla B. Foreword by Serge Betsen.

There are records of women's rugby being played in France as early as the mid-1890s, and in the 1920s a form of the game called "barette" was very popular, with national championships. However, after the 1930s the game had all but disappeared and was not revived until 1965 when groups of students in Lyon and Toulouse decided to take part in the great charitable campaign against world hunger. Most of them had brothers and friends who played rugby, so they decided to organise a charity game at Bourg-en-Bresse.

So successful was this that a regular series of games began, with clubs being formed as students graduated, initially mainly in the south. In 1969 a national association – the ARF [Women's Rugby Association] – was formed. Despite initial opposition to the game from both the government and the FFR (who briefly banned any FFR officials from officiating at women's games) by 1976 12 clubs were taking part in national competitions.

In 1982, by which time the number of clubs had more than doubled, the ARF signed a memorandum of understanding was agreed with the FFR which finally gave their official backing – and in the same year France took part in the first ever women's rugby international.

French squad during the 2014 Six Nations

Players

Current squad

On 2 September 2024, France announced their 30-player squad for the WXV 1 competition that will be held in Canada.^[1]^[2]

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Rose Bernadou	Prop	(2000-03-03)3 March 2000 (aged 24)	14	Montpellier HR
Axelle Berthoumieu	Flanker	(2000-07-09)9 July 2000 (aged 24)	14	Blagnac Rugby Féminin
Manon Bigot	Hooker	(1990-06-06)6 June 1990 (aged 34)	7	Blagnac Rugby Féminin
Maïlys Borak	Prop	(2004-01-12)12 January 2004 (aged 20)		Stade Bordelais
Yllana Brosseau	Prop	(2000-09-05)5 September 2000 (aged 24)	13	Stade Bordelais
Charlotte Escudero	Back row	(2000-12-26)26 December 2000 (aged 23)	21	Stade Toulousain
Madoussou Fall	Second row	(1998-03-17)17 March 1998 (aged 26)	31	Stade Bordelais
Manaé Feleu	Second row	(2000-02-03)3 February 2000 (aged 24)	18	FC Grenoble Amazones
Teani Feleu	Flanker	(2002-12-19)19 December 2002 (aged 21)	4	FC Grenoble Amazones
Émeline Gros	Number 8	(1995-08-19)19 August 1995 (aged 29)	34	FC Grenoble Amazones
Hina Ikahehegi	Second row	(2003-04-29)29 April 2003 (aged 21)	1	Stade Villeneuvois
Assia Khalfaoui	Prop	(2001-03-24)24 March 2001 (aged 23)	24	Stade Bordelais
Romane Ménager	Number 8	(1996-07-26)26 July 1996 (aged 28)	63	Montpellier HR
Ambre Mwayembe	Prop	(2004-03-01)1 March 2004 (aged 20)	11	FC Grenoble Amazones
Séraphine Okemba	Prop	(1995-12-03)3 December 1995 (aged 28)	1	Lyon OU Rugby
Élisa Riffonneau	Hooker	(2003-11-26)26 November 2003 (aged 20)	10	FC Grenoble Amazones
Agathe Sochat	Hooker	(1995-05-21)21 May 1995 (aged 29)	53	Stade Bordelais
Chloé Vauclin	Prop	(2005-05-07)7 May 2005 (aged 19)		Stade Rennais
Cyrielle Banet	Wing	(1994-08-29)29 August 1994 (aged 30)	28	Montpellier HR
Océane Bordes	Scrum-half	(2002-05-16)16 May 2002 (aged 22)		Stade Toulousain
Émilie Boulard	Fullback	(1999-08-28)28 August 1999 (aged 25)	32	Blagnac Rugby Féminin
Pauline Bourdon Sansus	Scrum-half	(1995-11-04)4 November 1995 (aged 28)	58	Stade Toulousain
Alexandra Chambon	Scrum-half	(2000-08-02)2 August 2000 (aged 24)	23	FC Grenoble Amazones
Chloé Jacquet	Centre	(2002-04-17)17 April 2002 (aged 22)	19	Lyon OU Rugby
Nassira Konde	Centre	(1999-07-30)30 July 1999 (aged 25)	11	Stade Bordelais
Mélissande Llorens	Wing	(2002-06-18)18 June 2002 (aged 22)	10	Blagnac Rugby Féminin
Marine Ménager	Wing	(1996-07-26)26 July 1996 (aged 28)	49	Montpellier HR
Lina Queyroi	Fly-half	(2001-05-18)18 May 2001 (aged 23)	14	Stade Toulousain
Lina Tuy	Fly-half	(2004-09-10)10 September 2004 (aged 20)	4	ASM Romagnat
Gabrielle Vernier	Centre	(1997-06-12)12 June 1997 (aged 27)	46	Blagnac Rugby Féminin

Previous squads

Notable players

Nathalie Amiel was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame on 17 November 2014.^[3]^[4] She made her international debut at 15 against Great Britain in London in 1986. She went on to win 56 caps for France by the time she retired in 2002.^[3] She played at three Women's Rugby World Cups in 1991, 1994 and 2002.^[3]

Award winners

World Rugby Awards

The following France players have been recognised at the World Rugby Awards since 2001:^[5]

World Rugby Women's 15s Player of the Year
Year	Nominees	Winners
2006	Delphine Plantet	—
2014	Safi N'Diaye
2015	Gaëlle Mignot
2016	Gaëlle Mignot (2)
2018	Jessy Trémoulière	Jessy Trémoulière
2019	Pauline Bourdon	—
2021	Caroline Boujard
2021	Laure Sansus
2022	Laure Sansus (2)
2023	Gabrielle Vernier
2024	Pauline Bourdon (2)

World Rugby Women's 15s Dream Team of the Year
Year	Forwards		Backs		Total
Year	No.	Players	No.	Players	Total
2021	1.	Annaëlle Deshayes	9.	Laure Sansus	6
	2.	Agathe Sochat	10.	Caroline Drouin
	4.	Safi N'Diaye	14.	Caroline Boujard
2022	5.	Madoussou Fall	9.	Laure Sansus (2)	2
2023	—		9.	Pauline Bourdon	2
2023			12.	Gabrielle Vernier	2
2024			9.	Pauline Bourdon (2)	1

World Rugby Women's 15s Try of the Year^[6]
Year	Date	Nominee	Match	Tournament	Winner
2021	3 April	Emilie Boulard	vs. Wales	Six Nations	Emilie Boulard
2021	17 April	Romane Ménager	vs. Ireland	Six Nations	Emilie Boulard
2023	23 April	Charlotte Escudero	vs. Wales	Six Nations	—
2024	29 September	Marine Ménager	vs. Canada	WXV 1	Marine Ménager

Six Nations Awards

The following France players have been recognised in the Women's Six Nations Awards since 2020:^[7]^[8]^[9]

Six Nations Player of the Championship
Year	Nominee	Winner
2021	Caroline Boujard	—
2022	Madoussou Fall	Laure Sansus
2022	Laure Sansus	Laure Sansus
2023	Gabrielle Vernier	Gabrielle Vernier
2024	Romane Ménager	—

Six Nations Try of the Championship
Year	Nominee	Match	Winner	Ref
2024	Annaëlle Deshayes	vs. Italy	—	^[10]

Six Nations Team of the Championship
Year	Forwards		Backs		Total
Year	No.	Players	No.	Players	Total
2022	4.	Madoussou Fall	9.	Laure Sansus	2
2023	—		9.	Pauline Bourdon	3
			12.	Gabrielle Vernier
			13.	Marine Ménager
2024	4.	Manaé Feleu	—		2
2024	8.	Romane Ménager	—		2

Record

Women's
World Rugby Rankings
v
t
e
Top 20 rankings as of 25 November 2024^[11]
Rank	Team	Points
1	England	97.56
2	Canada	89.31
3	New Zealand	88.64
4	France	85.11
5	Australia	78.10
6	Ireland	78.03
7	Scotland	76.82
8	Italy	74.75
9	United States	74.20
10	Wales	72.58
11	Japan	66.41
12	South Africa	66.18
13	Spain	65.42
14	Russia	61.10
15	Samoa	60.56
16	Netherlands	60.20
17	Fiji	59.14
18	Hong Kong	56.20
19	Kazakhstan	55.23
20	Sweden	52.72
*Change from the previous week

Note: Although the FFR list all of the following as full internationals or "test matches" in their publications (including their website), they do not award caps for all of the games. In particular, no caps have been officially awarded for appearances before 1989 (when the FFR became responsible for women's rugby), and most matches in FIRA tournaments after 2004 are uncapped. As a result, there can be a significant difference between the number of appearances players may have made for France and their official number of caps.

Overall

(Full internationals only)
Correct as of 29 April 2023

France internationals since 1982
Opponent	First played	Games played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win rate (%)
Australia	1998	5	4	0	1	80%
Belgium	1988	1	1	0	0	100%
Canada	1996	16	9	0	7	56.25%
England	1991	54	14	0	40	25.92%
Fiji	2022	1	1	0	0	100%
Germany	1997	1	1	0	0	100%
Great Britain	1986	4	3	0	1	75%
Ireland	1994	31	27	1	3	87.09%
Italy	1985	27	22	1	4	81.48%
Japan	1991	3	3	0	0	100%
Kazakhstan	1998	3	3	0	0	100%
Netherlands	1982	12	11	0	1	91.66%
New Zealand	1996	10	4	0	6	40%
Scotland	1998	29	23	1	5	79.31%
South Africa	2009	5	4	1	0	80%
Spain	1989	19	14	0	5	73.68%
Sweden	1991	4	4	0	0	100%
United States	1996	13	10	1	2	76.92%
Wales	1994	29	25	0	4	86.20%
Total	1982	267	183	5	79	68.53%