The beautiful career of the French women's rugby 7 team in Kitakyushu, 4th of the five stages of the World Tour, ended Sunday at the foot of the podium, after their 36-12 defeat to the United States in the match for 3rd place. The day after their feat (29-7) against New Zealand - their first victory against the Black Ferns, unbeaten for 38 games and winners of the first three stages of the year - the Blue have made a great start, before to suffer the law in the second period of the American compressor roller.
The Olympics are still far away. Despite their defeat, the French have delivered their best performance of the year on the World Circuit, which allows them to glean 14 points, as in Glendale in the first round, and nibble their gap in the ranking on Australia (4th with 56 points, at ten points of Les Bleues). The Blues, fifth overall, are not in a position to qualify for OJ, the first four places only offering the precious sesame. The 5th and penultimate stage of the competition will take place May 11-12 in Langford, Canada. The Blue will probably fall back on the European Olympic qualifying tournament held on the weekend of July 14 in Kazan, Russia, to hope to win one of twelve tickets to Tokyo-2020.