Ratier ready for Canada tests
We caught up with Francois Ratier, who earlier this year, took over as head coach of the Canada senior women??s side.
Published by Alison Donnelly, October 31, 2013
3 minute read
Ratier, who is also a Technical Director for Rugby Quebec, has taken a strong squad on the European tour which includes a number of players who have shone at Sevens level over the past year.
??This role is my first experience with women's rugby,?? he says.
??Earlier in the summer we started to build our team culture at the Nations Cup and so far the players are responding really well.?A big focus for us has been the need to increase our levels of physicality and we have worked very hard on that area of our game.??
Canada??s three game Autumn series will see them face one of the sides they have been pooled with at the World Cup next summer ?? England ?? and Ratier says that over the coming year, developing a strong pool of players is a priority.
??Training together regularly is impossible because of the distance players have to travel in Canada, but some of the players are centralised in Langford as part of the Sevens squad and they are training every day already. For the tight five players we are running regular camps and skills session in their provinces and this Autumn series is very important to us. We??ve also got games against USA, Australia and New Zealand lined up in 2014 before the World Cup so we will have some good chances to develop our player depth.??
Ratier??s squad for the upcoming games includes the likes of Sevens star Ghislaine Landry and Magali Harvey, and he says as much as possible he will include Sevens players as part of his plans for the World Cup.
??The Sevens and 15s programmes are obviously separate but John Tait and I work really closely together to make sure players are available as much as we can.??
??This series will help us in our first steps towards the World Cup. Winning the Nations Cup was great but that is in the past. I believe very good teams are built on foreign fields and playing France and England on their home ground will give us a better indication of where we are at as a squad.??
November 2Pontarlier, France?November 5Amn??ville, FranceNovember 13Twickenham, EnglandThe Twickenham Stoop?