Technical shortcomings and tactical naivety. That’s what it costs France in New Zealand. That’s what it cost to rebuild France from the start of 2026 according to François Ratier, his first year as coach The Blues slows to a stop.
The Blues The record book for 2026 reads 11 games played, 296 points scored and 299 points conceded, with six wins – against Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Australia and Canada – and five defeats, including four in as many matches against New Zealand, and another against England.
Mixed with jobs is probably the fairest estimate of 2026 for France. Just like 2025 AND 2024 And every year we go back to their last title, the 2018 Women’s Six Nations. A few moments of brilliance – victory Canada there was one in La Rochelle; Pauline Bourdon Sansus officially recognized the Attempt of the Year against England others; Pauline Barrat’s thoroughly impressive early performances before another serious knee injury – but more misses, possible events and frustrations.
Three defeats New Zealand feet of France WXV Global Series the campaign moved the pointer strongly towards the frustration side of the dial. Ratier recognized this.
“(It was) three different games,” he told the French sports daily The team. “The first one (an 81-12 loss) was obviously a tough blow, but we got through it.
“In the second (31-12), we saw a fight back, a real realization of what we are capable of, with some interesting strategic elements starting to fall into place. And the third (36-7) was frustrating because we had chances again.
“We tend to shoot ourselves in the foot because of a lack of tactical and strategic leadership.”
There’s no denying they looked the Black Ferns square in the eye in Lyon in their opening WXV Global Series outing, and they did so again an hour into the second match in New Zealand. But there’s also no denying they fell apart late in Whangarei, conceding three tries in the last 15 minutes. And they were never in the hunt after failing to score early in Christchurch.
This remains a never-ending story The Blues. Look at the clockwork of that second match in New Zealand, when France, 14-12 down, launched successive attacks on the Black Ferns’ line only – when they finally got through – to be held. Or very early exchanges in the final game, when the same thing happened.
No one wants to reductively suggest that any result would have been different if those tries had been scored, only that the shape of the game that followed would have been different.
“As coaches, we bear part of the blame for not being able to close out a game like this,” Ratier admitted. But the players also have to take responsibility.”
Looks like they did. Fly-half Carla Arbez, who succeeded Joanna Grisez as Midi Olympique’s 2026 Golden ‘Oscar’ winner, told the paper: “We didn’t quite know how to approach the girls as they were leaving the pitch (after the 81-12 defeat in Hamilton), or how to deal with the footage of the debri…
“But the staff really did a great job. They didn’t give us a dressing down. Instead, they went back to the basics and tried to help us with the strategic and tactical aspects, to understand where we went wrong and how to avoid going wrong in those moments. I think we did a good job of that in the second match.”
Which made the third Test appearance in Christchurch that much worse. “We make matches difficult for ourselves,” Arbez admitted, “with our ineffectiveness in the scoring zone. If we scored every time we got inside the opponent’s 22…things wouldn’t be the same for them mentally, or for us.”
Scoring every time is an impossible dream for even the craziest attacking coaches, but the picture Arbez paints is clear. France’s inability to score, their panic in the red zone – and the inevitable offload too far that it causes – is a weakness that opponents will relish. She knows it, the staff knows it. It can be corrected.
But it takes time. “There is still a lot of work to be done for the Six Nations,” Arbez said, “and for years to come.”
The ‘work’ that Arbez refers to goes back to basics. As Ratier said The team: “We established (a) technical division as soon as we arrived. That’s why we maintain basic skills such as passing in training. However, in training with the national team you don’t pass the most. There are youth selections, academies, clubs…
“I’ve been saying the same thing since January – we lack the basic high-pressing skills we encounter in international games.”
The nature of international selection – the squad does not meet again until next year – means that basic rugby skills must be in the wheelhouse of clubs and players.
“This skills gap is not new,” Ratier said. “There are areas of training that are less fun to work on, like repeating technical skills. In France we don’t focus on that as much – but we have to because the skills gap could widen even more.”
France took a relatively inexperienced team to New Zealand for the October Tests. But Ratier wasn’t going to hide behind it.
“This is not a question of inexperience,” he said after that third and final defeat of the tour. “If we look at our players with nine (captain, Alexandra Chambon), 10 (Arbez) and 15 (Émilie Boulard), they are not players with only two appearances. We will discuss those conversations with the team during the talks.
It is true, however, that Ratier took the opportunity of a relatively quiet and long honeymoon period for the new national team coaching staff to begin building depth in France.
Almost every time a French team is selected, the number of uncapped players is noteworthy. That Ratier wants to mark his territory, his mandate, as the coach of France implies. No measure is clearer than its expansion The Blues squad and staff – 46 different players featured for France in 11 matches in 2026.
“We are at the beginning of the cycle,” Ratier insisted, “we have to take that into account. What I am most proud of is being able to expand the French squad. When we took over in February, we had around 20 players under contract, after the change that followed the World Cup.
“You always have to add depth and to do that we had to go to the clubs, evaluate the players at an elite level and then put them on the international stage.
“There are gaps, it’s no secret. We’re able to measure them in speed, impact, endurance, power. And now, they’re experiencing it. We’ve seen it, not always in a pleasant way, but it’s part of the process.”
He won’t have that excuse for much longer. The first year of the Ratier era is over. It could have been better – it could have been worse. He, his staff and his players know what they’re up to, and he’s already lined up the women’s Six Nations 2027 as a key save point in the comprehensive schedule he was hired on in the first place.
He essentially insists on more time, saying the foundation he is laying now will be the foundation for French success down the road, especially on the women’s side Rugby World Cup 2029
