Gaelle Mignot: “Our first objective is achieved”

The France team is in the semi-finals ...

Gaelle Mignot:This was the minimum goal we set ourselves. Tonight (Saturday) we have done it, we're in the semifinals and we are obviously very happy. Of course, we want to go as far as possible, but we needed to first of all get out of our group and before we can take the next steps. Saturday was the third rung of the ladder, we climbed it and now we are in the final four. The next step is in front of us with Canada and we will work hard to overcome this as well.

The forwards again made the difference against Australia ...

GM:It's true that the battle was pretty good tonight. It is definitely one of our strengths. This allowed us to do some very effective mauls. Yet we still have work to do as there were still some mistakes that can cost us dear in the future.

Did you have doubts in the first half, while the Australians were still in the game

GM:To be honest, I don't think so, but on the other hand we had had a few scares at times. But we refocused. There was great team spirit in this match, we all pulled together. We didn't stop battling from the first to the last minute. We did not let them score a try, which helped us to win this game.

You still have not conceded a try in this competition. Is this the greatest satisfaction from the pool stage, and a challenge for you maintain as far as possible rest of the competition?

GM:I don't know if this will be a challenge, but it's true that our objective was to concede as few points as possible because if you do not concede points, you are often ahead in the final score. Our defense is our real strength in this competition. We tried work that way tonight, and while there were some mistakes and we did it well again. We will watch the video to correct any mistakes we made.

For the second test try you started the maul with Marjorie Mayans, who is centre. Can you explain this unusual tactic?

GM: It's a secret weapon. She was the ball carrier, it worked ... which was good for us. We set up for the drive, a player came into the formation, and we kept the maul going to the line. Fortune smiled on us tonight and we are very happy.

However France's success could end Mignot's career. Speaking toSud Ouestbefore the tournament she said "If we are world champions, I will think about retirement. I'm a competitor, I can't do things by half. It is extremely addictive but we are not professionals [the French team receive 129 euros a day while on national duty]. But combine four workouts per week for the club, plus work and internships in the France team, and rugby takes over everything. Whenever I get a free week I come home to my family in Cubjac to recharge quietly, surrounded by my parents, my sister, my friends."

It was in Cubjac, in south-west France, that she was introduced to the game when she was seven. "I come from a very rugby family. I had a cousin who played with SA Trélissac. He told me that a girl was playing with them and I came out of curiosity to try, It quickly became a passion. The only girl in the middle of a boys team I became captain was chosen for the regional team. The boys were protecting me, there was a really good atmosphere. But at 13, the rules forced me to join a women's team."

Montpellier's coach Christophe Ernoux had spotted her in the regional programme and as was soon old enough - at 19 - she was invited to join his Top 10 club where she was employed as a coach.

"It totally changed my life. I went from the countryside to the city in a different region. I joined the biggest French club and, in my position, there was Canizares, who then played in that position for France." She won her debut for France in the 2010 World Cup, and became French captain at the start of 2014. "I had already been chosen to replace Mary Alice after the World Cup so it was quite natural." In March, she lifted the Six Nations trophy with France's fourth Grand Slam and as club captain, in May she won her second national title in a row.

And this week she leads her team into a World Cup semi-final at home. "It is unique in the life of an athlete," she relishes.