Women’s XV of France – “We are already in a state of emergency”: Pauline Bourdon-Sansus speaks about the Blues

What can we wish you in terms of rugby for the new year?
Already winning back a title with my club, Stade Toulouse, as well as having a great performance at the World Cup and that will already be good. And you can also add a victory against the English at the next Tournament just before the World Cup!

Between the Tournament and the 2025 World Cup, the year promises to be rich, how do we approach it?
We must approach it like other years, while being aware that the World Cup will arrive quickly. The Tournament will soon be here too, and promises to be tougher because we will travel three times, notably to the Irish who are performing well, before going to Italy and England. Having a good Tournament would allow us to launch our World Cup properly.

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What debriefing did you do about the failure of the last Women XV (WXV, Editor’s note)?
First of all, we are very disappointed with our performance and what we were able to produce on the pitch. The staff also did a major internal debriefing. For our part, we have already started to do it and we will continue to do it during our internship in Elche, Spain. This will be the time to tell each other things and try to move forward on our project. We realize that at present, we are losing to nations that we dominated not so long ago. They are ahead of us, and we are behind schedule. We have to work even harder because we only have seven months left to progress. We have made progress in particular in arriving quickly in the scoring zone, but once we get there, we no longer know what to do. We also have to work on our defense, because the Canadians caught us in the middle.

So what to do?
The staff has worked and will offer us some adaptations to our project. But it is also up to us to realize that there is not much time left and that we will have to very quickly switch to the Tournament and correct these problems. The defense, in particular, was a real disappointment against Canada.

You often talk about defense or state of mind. How much did these big defeats against Canada then New Zealand (46-24 on the first day and 39-14 on the last) disappoint you?
A lot, because we thought defense was one of our main strengths. But the Canadians easily caught us out. Where we are in difficulty, and we will not be able to erase it before the World Cup, is only physically. Everyone puts 10 kg on us at each station. So we will have to find other solutions. But once again, we were very disappointed with our defense because we thought it was a given.

It wasn’t that long ago that the French women’s XV stood out precisely thanks to its physical dimension…
It’s true. But when we escape from commitment and from combat, we cannot win. But it’s our DNA and we know we get it quite easily. So we just have to find it.

How did this delay over other nations come about?
The other nations are working well, that’s obvious. I also think that our championship lacked homogeneity and put us in a bit of difficulty too. With the reform and the return of the single pool of 10, we can see that the matches are closer every weekend and that will help us. We see that in other nations, many girls go to England where the level of the championship is more homogeneous. But I think the gap will gradually narrow.

You experienced the 2022 World Cup, where the group rebelled and took charge. Today, we have the feeling that this French group lacks character, that it is mainly made up of good students, that it needs to emancipate itself…
Indeed, this group must learn to emancipate itself. At the 2022 World Cup, we had experienced players, who knew how to get out of the project when necessary, who took initiatives. There, we have a group that is much younger. I think that’s what we’re missing right now. We clearly lack character. The remaining elders are trying to bring this about. But I have the feeling that it is more complicated to pass on to the next generation than it was for our predecessors.

As an executive, do you feel like you need to play a bigger role within this group?
Completely. Above all, I feel that the group trusts me and relies a little on me as on other experienced players. So obviously, I do everything possible to set an example, even more than at the time when I had more veterans around me.

The World Cup is scheduled for the end of August. Will this emergency facilitate this collective awareness?
I admit that until now, this World Cup seemed a little far away. We didn’t talk about it too much. There, things changed. From now on, we will only talk about this World Cup in England. So the girls will naturally realize that this will happen quickly. We no longer have time to think. We all have to go in the same direction and in the same project together.

The next Tournament, with three trips, will be dangerous. Isn’t that a good reason to declare a state of emergency?
I think we are already in a state of emergency given our WXV… And lacking confidence, too. But the Tournament can also give us confidence, even if the fact of traveling three times can clearly also put us in difficulty. We must really be on alert if there is poor performance. But I think everyone will be keen to catch up from WXV and get back into good momentum for the tournament.

What is your agenda for the coming weeks?
We are leaving tomorrow (last Thursday, Editor’s note) to Elche in Spain for a first preparatory course for the Tournament. We will stay there for ten days. We will have to take advantage of it because we will only have one week of preparation then the match week before going to Ireland (next March 22, Editor’s note). We don’t yet have the rest of the agenda for the year but I imagine that the staff will communicate it to us during the internship.

Since this year, Canal + has started broadcasting Elite 1 matches, notably the one between you and Lyon with Stade Toulouse. How do you view this new visibility?
It’s amazing for us and I think it’s deservedin view of everything that the girls and leaders have been able to build before to get to this point. I think it was important that we had a little more visibility on women’s rugby. Our championship is tighter, there are great matches every weekend. This is a big step forward for our practice and women’s rugby. This is also a good thing on the part of Canal +. I hope that viewers will have a lot of fun watching us.

What do you think of the tightening of Elite 1 to ten clubs?
Frankly, it’s better. As I said earlier, the matches are close. With Stade Toulouse, we travel and we don’t know how the match will unfold. This was particularly the case in Grenoble where we drew. Before, it wasn’t so indecisive. So it’s good for us and for the French team too. Because having a denser championship will make the players better, and therefore the French team better.