Blues must be satisfied

In New Zealand, the Blues missed out on the podium. And indeed, Jerome Dare’s team qualified for the last stage of this stage on the world circuit, unfortunately not making its weight in the semi-finals against the locals (heavy defeat 38-0), having nevertheless left South Africa in the previous round (22-17). During the small final match against the United States, which they were defeated by Argentina, the French again suffered defeat, but this time to nothing (14-15). During this meeting, Théo Forner and William Iraguha were the leading scorers for the Tricolores, who conceded three. After a recent ninth-place finish in South Africa, the Blues sign a much better overall performance there. Note that in the final, the Argentines surprised the New Zealanders (14-12) and thus won on the territory of their rivals.

Simple and effective 💪

Despite this impressive attempt by William Hiraguha, the Blues of France 7 failed to feature against @employee But they still left with fourth place in #NZ7s 🤩#HSBC7s I @employee pic.twitter.com/O6awP8LckM

– World Rugby FR 🇫🇷 (WorldRugby_FR) January 22, 2023

Les Bleues is less successful in Hamilton

For their part, the French women were far less popular than in Cape Town, where they finished fifth at the end of 2022. Because, In Oceania, David Cortex’s players finished seventh this time. After being defeated in the quarter-finals by Ireland (24-7), France failed to respond to Japan (12-19), despite attempts by Chloe Bailey and Seraphine Okimba. The fault of the Japanese, who finished the match much better with 12 points in the final minutes. However, Les Bleues ended this stage of the world circuit on a high note. Facing Fiji in the match for seventh place, the Tricolores team was pleased with a very good win (34-5). Yulin Yingu and Bailey each scored two goals. Moreover, if New Zealand did not win in the men’s table in Hamilton, then the women’s team assured at home that in the final they triumphed over the USA (33-7).