Women’s World Cup – Les Bleues made their mark in New Zealand

After a long journey of nearly 36 hours that began last Thursday and took them through Doha, the capital of Qatar, and then on to Adelaide, Australia, the 15th women of France finally made it to New Zealand’s land in Auckland. Access represents a lot of ” TRUE “ The beginning of this global adventure, which evoked a certain euphoria within the group, as soon as the jet lag was assimilated: “ The fact that we are in New Zealand makes us realize that we are completely living thereCoach Thomas Darrac explained earlier this week. It started a little bit during training camp in Marcuse, but there we have to absorb the time difference, everyone got into this competition really well and we know we’ve changed in dimension. We felt that the girls wanted to let the horses go into the field, we feel the excitement within the group. »

So, the French women’s XV has taken up residence at the luxurious Grand Millennium Hotel, located in the heart of New Zealand’s largest city, between the famous Sky Tower and Myers Park. There, the Blues had time to take their marks as well as a little rest after their long journey: ” The first two days were set up to take the long time difference of 11 hours, so it was really necessary to find a rhythm of sleep and make sure every girl could suck. Now, we started with a daily progressive rhythm in particular with bodybuilding which resumed on Monday”Detailed Darracq.

Opposition of the Wallaros family on Saturday

The French also returned to training on the field in the middle of the week. The sessions they conducted on the grounds of the Pakuranga United Rugby Club, located in the giant Bell Park, in the heights of Auckland. The sessions are meant to prepare them for the weekend and for the first date: “ On Saturday we will have a warm-up match against Australia to get our fighting spirit back ahead of our first real warm-up match against South Africa.”The coach announced. An arranged, if not friendly, confrontation: ” We are going to practice consecutive three blocks of fifteen minutes in a real confrontation. It would really be a match plan with the desire to give all the girls time to play with an acknowledged referee being part of the committee. The idea is to confront ourselves with powerful enemies and to break free from everyday life and the oppositions we create between us. »

A meeting that will allow staff to fine-tune their judgments to make up their first 15 starts which they will equalize at the start of next week, for the match against South Africa. A XV where the presence of captain and winger Gaëlle Hermet remains uncertain due to a knee injury he sustained during the second match against Italy: “ Gail’s return is getting stronger and stronger. You have come up with the best case scenario. We’ll still be waiting and assessing her rehab day in and day out to see if she can play in the opener, but the desire is that Gayle is there over time. The World Cup is a six-week long competition, so we’re not going to take any chances in the first match. It’s still too early to tell today.”Drake said.