A niche rugby record was broken in Lyon on the first weekend WXV Global Series 2026 New Zealand became the first party except England win France on home soil since November 2018.
That defeat almost eight years ago – 14-0 in Toulon – was also at the hands of the Black Ferns. This means that New Zealand and England are now the only sides to win The Blues in France since then Canada kicked them out of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2014 in Paris.
Might update again soon. After confronting Australia in Aix-en-Provence on September 19, France, ranked fourth in the world, will complete the European leg of their WXV Global Series challenge against third-ranked Canada – who won comfortably Scotland in Edinburgh for the weekend – in La Rochelle on 26 September.
“Today was difficult” The Blues‘ freak head coach Francois Ratier admitted after Saturday’s 14-28 defeat at the Stadium de Gerland.
“No one likes to lose at home, but we have a path to follow. It will be difficult, but we have to follow it because this path will allow us to be world champions in three years.”
Ratier was signed on a two-plus-year deal last November to take over from Gaelle Mignot and David Ortiz following France’s fourth-place finish at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The job description for the role states that the successful candidate will be expected to “contribute to the design, implementation and management of an ambitious performance project aimed at leading the France XV to the 2029 World Cup title”.
So he would turn a positive on France’s second defeat in as many appearances against teams ranked higher than them, following their loss to England on the final day of the Guinness Women’s competition Six Nations in May.
But he and his team sincerely believe they have reason, despite the defeat, despite losing a place in the top three, to be quietly satisfied with their performance and the position on the road he is tearing them down. This is not a lifeline in his game development plan.
“We can see where we’re lacking, especially when it comes to taking advantage of our momentum,” Ratier insisted. “This is the first international match of the season and there were periods where we looked dangerous.”
He could point, for example, to captain Pauline Bourdon Sansus’ first try late in the first half, created by winger Léa Murie, who stepped and slid past several defenders in a tight space before slotting in a perfectly-placed half-timer.
Or that Murie almost scored early in the second half, sent off after a review for a forward pass to Axelle Berthoumie, when she broke through the Black Ferns defense after picking up the ball on halfway, which could have changed the makeup of the rest of the match. Certainly France had momentum at the time.
Then came Line Queyroi’s touchdown with 13 minutes left, capping off a great team move that began with a well-judged chip. The ball went through the hands of Gabrielle Vernier and Kelly Arbey before returning to the substitute half.
Queyroi’s crowd-pleaser put France briefly back in touch with New Zealand, 14-21 and the crowd on their backs. But four minutes later Mia Anderson, who was trying to score herself in the first half, broke through the defense for the last time and passed the ball to Liana Mikaele-Tu’ for the final score of the game.
Ratier wasn’t the only one who saw more positives than negatives on the wrong side of the results. Immediately afterwards, prop Assia Khalfaoui told France 2: “(New Zealand are) a team that set a high tempo and are very solid. We were a little bit behind them (in preparation)… but we didn’t fully come out of it.
“We still have work to do, but this is the beginning of something. We are fourth in the world, they are second, and they made us feel it.”
And Bourdon Sansus told reporters: “This was our first game back. Obviously we wanted to win – but they were better than us.”
“Defensively, we showed a lot of fight and aggressiveness. In attack, we still have to improve, but that is normal after only two weeks of team training. We will analyze this match, correct the mistakes and not repeat them in the coming weeks.”
She is not wrong The Blues‘ defensive struggle – Siobhan Soqeta’s save to deny Veisinia Mahutarika-Fakalela from scoring for what would have been New Zealand’s third score of the first half was a striking highlight of a generally solid afternoon’s work without the ball for France.
And no one in France denies that there is still a lot to do. Those missed lines; handling errors that stopped promising moves in their tracks; France’s inability to get into New Zealand’s 22 for much of the first half; Dead ends pass and chances are blown – it’s always easy to brush off mistakes from the sidelines.
The trick is to find the answers. France’s game plan in Lyon relied on getting the ball out quickly to exploit the space New Zealand leaves there. High risk, high reward stuff. When it works – as it did in both of France’s attempts. But the perfect pass needed in a defense as aggressive as New Zealand’s was missing in the first match.
Ratier acknowledges the work ahead: “We have to take advantage of these moments. It’s physically impossible to absorb so many collisions and regain possession if we don’t (then) do anything with the ball. So yes, it’s frustrating – but don’t worry.
“We knew we weren’t going to be at international pace today.”
He continued: “Canada just put 60 points on Scotland, England 50 on Australia,” Ratier pointed out. “We are a bit behind those (two) teams, as well as New Zealand – but not that far.
“These six matches over the next two months should help us make up some of that pitch – how much? – we’ll see in the Six Nations.”
So the save point for Ratier is the 2027 Women’s Six Nations. Then we should see a side that dictates more, rushes less and reacts. There is still a certain amount of thinking time built into everything France do, which means they are sometimes a bit slow to react.
When, if, it becomes muscle memory, speed will increase. Intriguing, if not yet exciting times for The Blues.
