France: Have the reforms worked?

French women’s rugby was in turmoil over the summer follow the introduction of a controversial reform of the domestic season that makes the national team the main focus of the game.

This year’s Autumn Series, with two tests against Canada and one against England, will be the first chance to see whether the pain has been worth it.

Over 500 players and officials – including nearly half of the national squad – signed petitions in protest at the changes which have, nonetheless, gone through.

The result is a far shorter club season, with no rugby during international weeks, and weekends set aside for national squad training. The first of these, at the beginning of October, assessed all of the leading players, narrowing 40 players down to the squads chosen for this series.

The players selected all have international experience and there are no surprise selections and it is reasonable to assume that (major injuries notwithstanding) no new players will now be added to the mix later in the season so this will be France’s World Cup squad to all intents and purposes.

However, France are also running sessions for its sevens training squad in advance of the opening Women’s Sevens Series in Dubai. As a result, four leading players – Caroline Ladagnous, Julie Billes, Shannon Izar and Koumbia Djossouvi – are only available for the first test against Canada. In addition talismanic fly-half Auerlie Bailon, the standout hero of the summer series in the USA, ruled herself out of selection this Autumn due to professional studies but it is inconceivable that if fit she will miss out in August.

The remaining players were originally divided into two significantly different squads for the second Canadian test and the visit to England, but injuries in recent weeks to key players flanker Latetitia Grand and centre Christelle Le Duff have forced changes that mean that the teams playing in these will be all but the same.

The team for the first test on Saturday is possibly the most interesting. Full of youth and pace, with Julie Billes and Shannon Izar on the wings, and Elodie Guiglion in the centre, plus the experience of Sandrine Agricole at 10 and Caroline Ladagnous at 15; this is a team selected to take the game to the Canadians.

As seven of their leading players will then be missing, the teams for the second Canadian test and the visit to Twickenham are, of necessity, rather more conservative. However the absence of Ladagnous means that young maverick Jessy Tremouoliere will get an opportunity to play at her preferred full back position, while Marion Lievre, who has previously only played sevens, is given a chance to prove herself at fifteens.

However, despite the domestic season taking a back seat, it is still likely to have an effect on proceedings. In January, a poor French start to the Six Nations came in the back of poor performances by the club teams of several key players. This season, not least due to the reforms, the Top 10 is proving to be more tense and unpredictable than ever before. Three out of four the games last weekend were decided by three points or less, and several of the leading players may have the prospect of imminent relegation to the second division in the backs of their minds.

It is this psychological pressure that seems to be having a real effect in the Top 10. Risk taking is being minimised as teams scramble for points. In Pool 1 the waters have all but closed over Bordeaux who went down to their fifth defeat with a 55-15 reversal at Caen, but Bobigny – who provide more players to the national squad than any other club – fought their opponents to a near standstill in a desperate battle in Perpignan.  Though the home team have the most of the possession, it was Bobigny who went away with the points thanks to a 3-0 win.

For the teams in this pool it is now a matter of jockeying for the best quarter-final seedings – the home of the real pressure is Pool 2. Here Lons, home of the injured Latetitia Grand, plus three other squad members,are now staring relegationin the face after going down 15-14 at home to La Valette, who themselves are far from safe. Lons now have only six points from five games, with just Andre Manon’s Blagnac Saint Orens below them.

“BSORF” lost their fifth game of the season, but for the fourth time picked up a losing bonus as Rennes, the only unbeaten club in France hung on to win just 11-8, at home.

All of this must have an effect on the play of the national team. After two months of playing tight, tense, no-risk, rugby it seems unlikely that the French players will be able to suddenly transform to playing in an open attacking style.

Even before they lost seven players a repeat of their Six Nations triumph at Twickenham seemed unlikely, but now with their absence, and the frame of mind many of the French team may be in,  they really could lose all three games. And if that happens there is every chance that the controversy of the Top 10 reform could reopen. The stakes are high in France this Autumn.

Revised squads:

v Canada (Portalier 2/11/13): Manon Andre (Saint Orens); Lise Arricastre (Lons); Julie Billes (Perpignan); Christelle Chobet (Lons); Lenaïg Corson (Rennes); Laura Di Muzio (Lille); Coumba Diallo (Bobigny); Koumiba Djossouvi (Montpellier); Julie Duval (Ovalie Caennaise); Hélène Ezanno (Lille); Laurelin Fourcade (Stade Bordelais); Lucille Godiveau (Bobigny); Elodie Guiglion (USA Perpignan); Marie-Charlotte Hebel (Rennes); Shanon Izar (Lille); Assa Koita (Bobigny); Caroline Ladagnous (Lons); Gaëlle Mignot (Montpellier); Safi N’diaye (Montpellier); Audrey Parra (Bobigny); Sophie Pin (La Valette); Sandra Rabier (Ovalie Caennaise); Yanna Rivoalen (Lille); Laetitia Salles (La Valette); Marie-Alice Yahe (Perpignan)

v Canada (Stade municipal d’Amnéville, 5/11/13): Sandrine Agricole (Rennes); Manon Andre (Saint Orens); Lise Arricastre (Lons); Christelle Chobet (Lons); Lenaïg Corson (Rennes); Laura Di Muzio  (Lille); Coumba-Tombe Diallo (Bobigny); Julie Duval (Ovalie Caennaise); Hélène Ezanno (Lille); Laurelin Fourcade (Stade Bordelais); Lucille Godiveau (Bobigny); Elodie Guiglion (USA Perpignan); Marie Charlotte Hebel (Rennes); Assa Koita (Bobigny); Marion Lievre (Bobigny); Sandra Metier (Bobigny); Gaëlle Mignot (Montpellier); Safi N’diaye (Montpellier); Audrey Parra (Bobigny); Sophie Pin (La Valette); Elodie Portaries (Montpellier); Sandra Rabier (Ovalie Caennaise); Yanna Rivoalen (Lille); Laetitia Salles (La Valette); Jessy Tremouliere (Romagnat); Marie-Alice Yahe (USA Perpignan)

v England (Twickenham, 9/11/13):  Sandrine Agricole (Rennes); Manon Andre (Saint-Orens); Lise Arricastre (Lons); Christelle Chobet (Lons); Lenaïg Corson (Rennes); Laura Di Muzio (Lille); Coumba Tombe Diallo (Bobigny); Hélène Ezanno (Lille); Laurelin Fourcade (Stade Bordelais); Lucille Godiveau (Bobigny); Elodie Guiglion (Usa Perpignan); Assa Koita (Bobigny); Marion Lievre (Bobigny); Gaëlle Mignot (Montpellier); Safi N’diaye (Montpellier); Audrey Parra (Bobigny); Sophie Pin (La Valette); Elodie Portaries (Montpellier); Sandra Rabier (Ovalie Caennaise); Yanna Rivoalen (Lille); Laetitia Salles (La Valette); Jessy Tremouliere (Romagnat); Marie-Alice Yahe (Usa Perpignan)

Top 10

Pool 1

Pool 2