In New Zealand, women fell while holding hands

The XV of France Women saw disappointments in the semi-finals. In almost every edition: 1991, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2017…and now 2021 (the Mundial was not renamed in 2022). Eight halves of falls for the blue, therefore, and still not final. But this was probably the most infuriating of all. Why ? Because it pitted a confinement against the competition’s hosts, the five-time world champions, on their home turf, at Eden Park. Because this group had revolted, they were released during the competition. A story they wanted as long and beautiful as possible, despite their inexperience at that level, as the vast majority of this group was discovering the World Cup.

Marseillaise vs Haka

This majority will also discover the hell of a World Cup semi-final. Others encounter black fern for the first time. Those who often impress with their legend and achievement. This time, the French did not let themselves go. Once the traditional Māori dance is over, they close their line in a circle and sing the last verse of the Marseillaise. The date will have a final moment between them, and to have that moment presumably take a psychological toll on them. And it worked. As usual, the matches had a resounding start, quickly reaching down the Kiwi poles. They sure wanted to put those Black Ferns K.-O. , as did the Australians in their first game (17-0 to the Wallaroos after 30 minutes of play). They picked touches on points and fired their devastating volleys from the third jumping block as hooker Agatha Suchat regularly found Gaëlle Hermet. And even when the New Zealander came back to score, they were able to respond immediately, like this test by Gabrielle Vernier – still excellent on Saturday night – just before the break. In short, their plan worked perfectly. Until the start of the second half, when the New Zealanders stole the keys to the game: “Quickly playing penalties to maintain possession and follow-up, they analyzed courtesan Agatha Suchat. They saw that we were in contact, and preferred to avoid scrapes.” Then the black waves became more frequent and more violent. A less aggressive and less strenuous French defensive climb. This is how the blue wall began to crack… until the terrible outcome we know.

Huge individual mistakes

Once back at the Pullman Hotel in central Auckland, the Blues still wanted to share a drink together but remained unimpressed, even two hours after the final whistle. Each regrets his individual mistakes. Emily Pollard had to rethink the feat of Ruby Toy in front of her eyes, flattening the ball three centimeters from the dead ball zone. Clara Joyo trembled on her chin as she recalled her broken arm whistling for her in the 34th minute, prompting her to try Floehler on the wing. The same for Safi N’Diaye who was caught off guard by Santo Taumata’s pole, did not have time to bend over and was punished with a yellow card. There was also a terrible two against one, which Maëlle Filopon netted at the last minute, when Emily Pollard was still on her left. And then I wasted that damned punishment, which risks haunting Caroline Drouin for so long. In hindsight, we also wonder about the selection of the staff, who left three players on the bench, including the striker (the courtesan Celia Domin) and the goal-scorer (Lena Kirui): Thomas Darracq explained: “We don’t regret our turnover and utilization of staff. There was always the difficulty of going all the way and not finishing the inferiority and it was always distasteful. The girls who came back gave everything they had.”