France women's national rugby union team
 | |||
| Union | French Rugby Federation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Head coach | François Ratier | ||
| Captain | Manaé Feleu | ||
| |||
| World Rugby ranking | |||
| Current | 4 (as of 2 October 2025) | ||
| Highest | 2 (2005–2006, 2015–2016) | ||
| Lowest | 6 (2008–2009) | ||
| First international | |||
 Netherlands 0–4 France  (Utrecht, Netherlands; 13 June 1982) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
France 99–0 Japan  (Edinburgh, Scotland; 17 April 1994) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
France 0–109 New Zealand  (Edmonton, Canada; 14 September 1996) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 9 (First in 1991) | ||
| Best result | 3rd place (1991, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2017 and 2021) | ||
The France women's national rugby union team represents France in women's international rugby union. They played the first-ever women's rugby union test match against the Netherlands on 13 June 1982. They compete annually in the Women's Six Nations Championship and have placed third in seven of nine Rugby World Cups.
History
[edit]Source: "Des Filles en Ovalie", Éditions Atlantica (2005), Written by Jacques Corte / Yaneth Pinilla B. Foreword by Serge Betsen.
There are records of women's rugby being played in France as early as the mid-1890s, and in the 1920s a form of the game called "barette" was very popular, with national championships. However, after the 1930s the game had all but disappeared and was not revived until 1965 when groups of students in Lyon and Toulouse decided to take part in the great charitable campaign against world hunger. Most of them had brothers and friends who played rugby, so they decided to organise a charity game at Bourg-en-Bresse.
So successful was this that a regular series of games began, with clubs being formed as students graduated, initially mainly in the south. In 1969 a national association – the ARF [Women's Rugby Association] – was formed. Despite initial opposition to the game from both the government and the FFR (who briefly banned any FFR officials from officiating at women's games) by 1976 12 clubs were taking part in national competitions.
In 1982, by which time the number of clubs had more than doubled, the ARF signed a memorandum of understanding was agreed with the FFR which finally gave their official backing – and in the same year France took part in the first ever women's rugby international.
- French squad during the 2014 Six Nations
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Since 2002, France has won six Women's Six Nations titles and are the next most successful team in the competition after England.[1]
Players
[edit]Current squad
[edit]France announced their 32 player squad on 2 August for the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup.[2][3]
Note: The age and number of caps listed for each player is as of 22 August 2025, the first day of the tournament.
World Cup squads
[edit]Notable players
[edit]- Nathalie Amiel was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame on 17 November 2014.[4][5] She made her international debut at 15 against Great Britain in London in 1986. She went on to win 56 caps for France by the time she retired in 2002.[4] She played at three Women's Rugby World Cups in 1991, 1994 and 2002.[4]
Award winners
[edit]World Rugby Awards
[edit]The following France players have been recognised at the World Rugby Awards since 2001:[6][7]
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| Year | Date | Nominee | Match | Tournament | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3 April | Emilie Boulard | vs. Wales | Six Nations | Emilie Boulard |
| 17 April | Romane Ménager | vs. Ireland | Six Nations | ||
| 2023 | 23 April | Charlotte Escudero | vs. Wales | Six Nations | — |
| 2024 | 29 September | Marine Ménager | vs. Canada | WXV 1 | Marine Ménager |
Six Nations Awards
[edit]The following France players have been recognised in the Women's Six Nations Awards since 2020:[9][10][11][12][13]
|
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Record
[edit]| Rank | Change* | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
 England |
97.76 |
| 2 | |
 Canada |
90.13 |
| 3 | |
New Zealand |
88.76 |
| 4 | |
France |
86.42 |
| 5 | |
 Ireland |
78.20 |
| 6 | |
 Scotland |
77.39 |
| 7 | |
 Australia |
75.46 |
| 8 | |
 United States |
72.90 |
| 9 | |
 Italy |
72.37 |
| 10 | |
 South Africa |
71.62 |
| 11 | |
Japan |
69.72 |
| 12 | |
 Wales |
66.13 |
| 13 | |
 Fiji |
63.98 |
| 14 | |
 Spain |
62.42 |
| 15 | |
 Samoa |
59.72 |
| 16 | |
 Hong Kong |
57.56 |
| 17 | |
Netherlands |
57.42 |
| 18 | |
 Russia |
55.10 |
| 19 | |
 Kazakhstan |
53.88 |
| 20 | |
 Kenya |
50.68 |
| *Change from the previous week | |||
Note: Although the FFR list all of the following as full internationals or "test matches" in their publications (including their website), they do not award caps for all of the games. In particular, no caps have been officially awarded for appearances before 1989 (when the FFR became responsible for women's rugby), and most matches in FIRA tournaments after 2004 are uncapped. As a result, there can be a significant difference between the number of appearances players may have made for France and their official number of caps.
Overall
[edit](Full internationals only)
Correct as of 23 August 2025
| Opponent | First played | Games played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Win rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia
|
1998 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 66.67% |
 Belgium
|
1988 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Canada
|
1996 | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 50% |
| England
|
1991 | 58 | 14 | 0 | 44 | 24.14% |
| Fiji
|
2022 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
 Germany
|
1997 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
 Great Britain
|
1986 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 75% |
| Ireland
|
1994 | 33 | 29 | 1 | 3 | 87.88% |
| Italy
|
1985 | 30 | 25 | 1 | 4 | 80% |
| Japan
|
1991 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Kazakhstan
|
1998 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Netherlands
|
1982 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 91.66% |
| New Zealand
|
1996 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 41.67% |
| Scotland
|
1998 | 31 | 25 | 1 | 5 | 80.65% |
| South Africa
|
2009 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 80% |
| Spain
|
1989 | 19 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 73.68% |
 Sweden
|
1991 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| United States
|
1996 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 78.57% |
| Wales
|
1994 | 31 | 27 | 0 | 4 | 87.1% |
| Total | 1982 | 286 | 194 | 5 | 87 | 68.88% |
World Cup
[edit]| Rugby World Cup | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D | L | PF | PA | ||||
| 1991
|
Semi-finals | *Third | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 99 | 13 | ||||
| 1994
|
3rd Place Playoff | Third | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 163 | 18 | ||||
| 1998
|
7th Place Playoff | 8th | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 56 | 72 | ||||
| 2002
|
3rd Place Playoff | Third | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 93 | 58 | ||||
| 2006
|
3rd Place Playoff | Third | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 102 | 85 | ||||
| 2010
|
3rd Place Playoff | 4th | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 70 | 91 | ||||
| 2014
|
3rd Place Playoff | Third | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 139 | 42 | ||||
| 2017
|
3rd Place Playoff | Third | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 175 | 62 | ||||
| 2021
|
3rd Place Playoff | Third | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 190 | 46 | ||||
| 2025 |
3rd Place Playoff | 4th | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 226 | 105 | ||||
| 2029 |
Qualified as 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup semi-finalists | |||||||||||
| 2033 |
TBD | |||||||||||
| Total | 10/10 | 3rd† | 48 | 32 | 0 | 16 | 1,313 | 592 | ||||
| ||||||||||||
See also
[edit]- Rugby union in France
- France national rugby union team (men's team)
References
[edit]- ^ Harvey, Joe (19 March 2025). "Women's Six Nations 2025: All you need to know including results, fixtures and past winners". Rugby World. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
- ^ "XV de France féminin : Le groupe pour la Coupe du monde" [French women's XV: The squad for the World Cup]. Fédération Française de Rugby (in French). 2 August 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
- ^ "France declares squad for women's RWC 2025". Rugby World Cup. 2 August 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
- ^ a b c World Rugby (18 November 2014). "2014 Inductee: Nathalie Amiel". Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- ^ AFP/de (channelnewsasia.com) (18 November 2014). "Rugby: Women enter IRB Hall of Fame for first time". Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- ^ "Awards Roll of Honour - World Rugby". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ "Trémoulière crowned World Rugby Women's Player of the Year". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 25 November 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ "France's Boulard wins International Rugby Players Women's Try of the Year". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ "Women's Six Nations Player of the Championship". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ "Vote for your 2025 Guinness Player of the Championship!". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 29 April 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ^ "2022 TikTok Women's Six Nations Team of the Championship revealed". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 14 May 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ "Revealed: The Fans' 2024 Team of the Championship". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ "The 2025 Guinness Women's Six Nations 'Team of The Championship'". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 28 April 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ^ "Try of the Championship - Vote Now". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 2 May 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
- ^ "Classy Grisez scoops Try of the Championship". sixnationsrugby.com. Six Nations Rugby. 20 May 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ^ "Women's World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
External links
[edit]- (in French) Official website of the Fédération Française de Rugby
- News Archived 5 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine on Planet-Rugby.com
- France[permanent dead link] on IRB.com