In 40 minutes in Aix-en-Provence, the Wallaroos had France exactly where they wanted them.
Australia led 19-12 at halftime, enjoyed a four-man lead and looked poised to take control. Instead, France turned the contest around, scoring 17 unanswered points to claim a 29-26 victory in the WXV Global Series.
For Wallaroos vice-captain Kaitlan Leaney, the defeat offered a reminder of the margins in Test rugby and a blueprint for what her side must be right against Scotland at the Hive Stadium on Saturday 26 September.
“The reality is we had opportunities we could have taken and we didn’t,” Leaney said in a candid review of the game.
“We talk a lot about being process-driven and then performance-driven and at that point we weren’t adhering to our processes enough.”
Now, with a three-Test series against Scotland ahead, the Wallaroos have a chance to put those lessons into action.
“The review (of the France game) was good. We had to go deep into it and look at the areas that went wrong.
“Obviously in a test match you can’t afford to make those little mistakes, but the reflection is that we will learn a lot from that game and hopefully take that learning into the campaign in Scotland.
“I don’t think we were complacent at any point. We were definitely excited about the fact that the space was there and we took advantage of those opportunities, but when we think about it, we actually played really well in that period when they had 11 players and we had 15.”
“We were probably disappointed in that counter-attacking area where they got those two late tries in the second half because it came down to desire and work rate, which is something we pride ourselves on,” explained the 25-year-old Lock.
France found easy steps through their transition, an area identified as a priority by forwards Leaney and the Wallaroos, with a powerful Scotland set waiting in Edinburgh.
“We know Scotland like their set-piece so they’ll use that maul a lot and a lot of tries come from that, so that’s something we’ll be targeting this week and stopping at the weekend.”
The Wallaroos arrive in Scotland having already shown significant progress in the campaign, despite the results not yet reflecting it.
Having lost 66-19 in their historic 100th women’s rugby test against the Black Ferns in August, the vice-captain believes her side have taken a step forward with each outing since then.
“When you look at how we started this campaign with that 100th Test against New Zealand, we’ve had about a 20 per cent increase in our performance each time.
“We improved in every metric of the game. When you look at it from an outside point of view, the losses don’t look good.”
“However, I think if you look deeper into it, every week we’re improving, we’re playing better, we’re playing with a lot more confidence, we’re moving the ball, we’re defending our line really well and our set is going really well.
“Those are things we can really build confidence on and take into the Scotland games,” she added.
Scotland will offer a different challenge to France, but Australia know that well.
The sides met last time WXV 2 in a contest that went down to the wire, and Leaney expects more physical, entertaining battles when they meet again during the WXV Global Series.
“Scotland are a really well-established team. They’ve played a lot of games this year. They’ve had theirs Six Nations where they faced high competition.
“They are above us in the world rankings right now. We know they have really good outside backs that they like to use. They have a strong lineup that fuels their attack.”
“We did a really thorough review of them and they did us. The beauty is that the last time we played them, it was a fun game and a great game to watch as a spectator and as a player,” she added.
“We landed around 2am on Monday morning and started training, but I’m sure on our day off we’ll be planning to see Arthur’s Seat, go to Edinburgh Castle, try some haggis and soak up the culture!
“That’s the beauty of this game is that we can travel the world and immerse ourselves in different cultures, so we’ll enjoy that element as well,” the lock concluded with a smile.
“We’re really looking forward to the three-Test series against Scotland and hopefully we can get results and provide some really entertaining rugby.”
