France women's national rugby sevens team
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| Union | French Rugby Federation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Coach(es) | Romain Huet | ||
| Captain(s) | Carla Neisen | ||
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| World Cup Sevens | |||
| Appearances | 3 (First in 2009) | ||
| Best result | Runners-up (2018) | ||
France women's national rugby sevens team represents France in the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens, World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Summer Olympic Games. They are currently the 2023 European Champions; they were also champions in 2007 and 2015. France has competed in the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 2016 Rio Olympics and were silver medalists at the 2020 Games.
They have been a core team in the Women's Sevens Series since the 2014–15 season. They have also competed in the Sevens World Cup since the inauguration of the women's tournament in 2009, and were silver medalists in 2018.
History
[edit]Sevens World Cup
[edit]France competed in the inaugural Women's Sevens World Cup in Dubai in 2009. They finished at the top of their pool, despite losing to the Netherlands in their opening game. They were eliminated by the United States in the Cup quarter-finals, without having scored a single point. They finally finished in seventh place after losing to Canada in the Plate semi-finals.
Sevens Series debut
[edit]As the first edition of the Women's Sevens World Series commenced in the 2012–2013 season, France participated as an invitational team for two of the four tournaments.
2013 Sevens World Cup
[edit]In 2013, France took part in their second World Cup at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. They finished third in their pool behind Russia and England, with Russia surprising England to win the last match of the group stage. In the Bowl finals, France dominated Tunisia in the quarter-finals, before being eliminated by Fiji. They eventually finished in eleventh place overall.
Road to Rio
[edit]In order to qualify for the Rio Olympics, where rugby was making its return, France had to win the 2015 Grand Prix with a best combined result of two tournaments. After failing in the first stage in Kazan in the final against the Russians, the Les Bleues got their revenge in Brive in the final stage by beating Russia in the semi-final. They then won the final against Spain and qualified for the 2016 Olympics.
Les Bleues started their first Olympic Games with victories against Spain and Kenya, but lost to New Zealand and were placed second in their pool. They then lost in the quarter-finals of the medal play-offs against Canada, they met Spain again in the semi-final for fifth place and beat them. However, they lost to the United States in the final and finished in sixth place.
2018 Sevens World Cup
[edit]They competed at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, their qualification being determined by their placement in the 2016–17 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.[1] They went undefeated on their way to the final, even beating Olympic champions Australia by 19–12 in the semi-finals, before succumbing to defending champions New Zealand in the finals, where they were defeated 29–0.[2]
Tokyo Olympics
[edit]France qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, after winning the Final Olympic Qualification Tournament in Monaco.[3] They went undefeated until the gold medal final, where they lost to New Zealand by 26–12.[4]
Tournament history
[edit]Summer Olympics
[edit]| Olympic Games record | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | L | D |
 2016
|
Quarterfinals | 6th | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
 2020
|
Gold medal final |  |
6 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
 2024
|
Quarterfinals | 5th | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 0 Titles | 3/3 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 |
Rugby World Cup Sevens
[edit]| Rugby World Cup Sevens | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | L | D |
 2009
|
Plate Semifinalists | 7th | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
 2013
|
Bowl Semifinalists | 11th | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
 2018
|
Final | 2nd | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
 2022
|
Bronze final | 3rd | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 0 Titles | 4/4 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 |
Rugby X Tournament
[edit]| Rugby X Tournament | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Position | Pld | W | L | D |
 2019
|
3rd | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Women's Sevens Series
[edit]| Series | Season | Events | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 2012–13 | 2 / 4 | 12th | 9 |
| II | 2013–14 | 3 / 5 | 8th | 21 |
| III | 2014–15 | 6 | 6th | 72 |
| IV | 2015–16 | 5 | 5th | 60 |
| V | 2016–17 | 6 | 7th | 60 |
| VI | 2017–18 | 5 | 
|
68 |
| VII | 2018–19 | 6 | 5th | 70 |
| VIII | 2019–20 | 5 | 4th | 70 |
| – | 2020–21 | Cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] | ||
| IX | 2021–22 | 6 |
|
84 |
| X | 2022–23 | 7 | 4th | 92 |
| XI | 2023–24 | 8 | (League)
|
104 |
Players
[edit]Current squad
[edit]Squad named for the 2023 World Rugby HSBC Sevens Series in Vancouver from the 3–5 March.
Caps updated to the latest date: 5 March 2023
| France Women 7's
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| Coach: David Courteix | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022–23 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series |
Previous squads
[edit]Award winners
[edit]The following France Sevens players have been recognised at the World Rugby Awards since 2013:[6][7]
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Four More Teams Set for San Francisco After Qualifying for RWC Sevens 2018". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-10-24.
- ^ "Black Ferns too good for France to defend Sevens World Cup title". Stuff. 2018-07-22. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
- ^ "Russia and France on the way to Tokyo". Scrum Queens. 2021-06-20. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
- ^ Pye, John (2021-07-31). "New Zealand beats France to clinch gold in women's rugby 7s". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
- ^ "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series to double-up in Canada and Dubai". World Rugby. 3 September 2021. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
- ^ "Awards Roll of Honour - World Rugby". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ ""Believe in your dreams" – sevens star Anne-Cécile Ciofani". www.women.rugby. 14 December 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
External links
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