‘New Zealand don’t scare us’: In Toulouse, the French rugby heptathlon dreams of a double-action
Shine at home. All French Olympic sports teams dream of it one year before the Paris Games. On Saturday, the French rugby 7s teams gave themselves a little shot of adrenaline and a bath of confidence in front of their fans, in Toulouse, during a leg of the Sevens World Series, the World Circuit.
Having mistreated Ireland on Friday, the Blues impressively raised the bar on the second day of competition. Coach David Cortex’s daughters, Olympic vice-champions in Tokyo in 2021, beat Australia (19-12), in the last group match, thanks to a double by Joanna Griese. They then swept Great Britain in the quarter-finals (28-10) with a new double from the wing tricolor, in the legs.
On Sunday, in the semi-finals (10:06 a.m.), France will face the best country in the world, New Zealand, who beat them in the final in Tokyo. It would take quite a feat for the Blues to make it to the final.
“We are able to come back to the score when we fall behind”
Les Bleus confirmed the progress seen this season in the wake of a quiet youth. The fourth country in the world, the French national team wonderfully beat Olympic champion Fiji (24-19) after losing 0-14. The light came from Joachim Troubal, son of former runner Jean-Charles Troubal, world record holder in the 4×100m relay in Split in 1990, who scored a hat-trick when he made his speed do the talking.
In the quarter-finals, the French dominated Great Britain (17-12) in the suspense finale. It was young Parisian Varian Basket (23), who trained at PUC and plays at Stade Français, who liberated the Ernest-Wallon stadium after the siren. This Sunday, they also face New Zealand in the semi-finals (1:54 p.m.).
“It was unbelievable to lose to our home crowd,” Baskett savored into the Canal+ microphone. New Zealand for the girls and for us it will be two big games. But we proved we were a big team, and the All Blacks don’t intimidate us given our recent result against them in the semi-finals in Hong Kong We had the ball to win (7-12 loss).
“We’ve been paying for very big games against good teams from the start. Great Britain, it was tough, even if they played 6 and then 5 (two yellow cards). We showed resilience to win. From the start of the season, it was a sign Great business, we are able to come back to score when we fall behind and go for victory at the end.”
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