It’s time to get back on the field. Five months after having won third place in a World Cup for the seventh time in its history, the French women’s team returns to competition on Sunday March 26, and enters the running in the Six Nations Tournament, in Italy (4 p.m. ). And before this confrontation, it was hardly complicated to find the watchword in the French ranks: ” Renewal “.
From the new captain Audrey Forlani to the new duo of coaches-selectors Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz, all insisted on this term in the preamble to the Tournament. Because this female XV of France bears no resemblance to the one whose dreams of coronation were shattered in October-November in New Zealand on the eternal glass ceiling of Les Bleues at the World Cup. Since then, the Mignot-Ortiz doublet has replaced Thomas Darracq, of whom they were assistants. And before the start of the first match, they decided to withdraw the captain’s armband from Toulousaine Gaëlle Hermet to entrust it to Audrey Forlani from Blagnac.
“There is no problem with Gaëlle, who is still in the groupassures David Ortiz. But we wanted to create a fresh start and it seemed necessary to reshuffle the cards. » A change made necessary by the international retirements of executives like Laure Sansus, Céline Ferer, Marjorie Mayans or Safi N’Diaye. But also by the turmoil experienced by the Blues at the World Cup.
On January 5, ex-manager Annick Hayraud confided to The Team his deep disagreements with Thomas Darracq and the split between the locker room and the coach. “I was criticized for saying things, in particular that we were going straight into the wall”she explained. “Everything was sealed off. It was really special. There were no exchanges. » A few weeks earlier, full-back Jessy Trémoulière had lit the first fuse, following a competition in which she had only participated on the sidelines – two games played.
Move on, ASAP
Always with the sports daily, Trémoulière, best player in the world 2018, had reproached ” a lack of respect “ staff. “There was no honesty in our interviews, they blamed me but it was not at all constructive. » According to the specialist journal Olympic noon, the executives of the group had ended up calling a meeting with their coach, in the middle of the World Cup, to ease tensions within the team. Without success.
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