Paris (AFP)

Back to the field!

Eight months after its last match, the XV of France women in turn picks up the thread of the Six Nations Tournament, Sunday (3:20 p.m.) in Scotland, with the World Cup in a corner of the head.

Originally scheduled for March 7, the Blue's trip to Glasgow had been postponed due to a positive coronavirus case in the Scottish workforce.

The pandemic then put the end of the Tournament on hold, just like world sport.

The results of the "Hungry", nickname of the national team, before confinement?

Two clear wins against Italy (45-10) and Wales (50-0) after an inaugural defeat against England (13-19) in Pau, where the final victory in the Tournament was arguably already decided.

"Winning the Tournament will be complicated. The match against England was the key," said winger Marine Ménager.

But "we are leaving to make two big matches against Scotland and Ireland (November 1 in Dublin) and we are now less than a year from the World Cup. It is up to us to find our bearings, to play well together and to take back the pleasure that we were not able to take all together ", continues the 24-year-old Montpellier.

In New Zealand, host country of the 2021 World Cup, from September 18 to October 16, the France team wants to do better than its best result, third.

"We want to be world champions. We are going with this objective. We know it will be very hard because today, there are strong opponents in front of us. But we are not going to participate. , we want to try to win it, "assures coach Annick Hayraud.

The last two matches of the Tournament must therefore allow the Bleues to seal at least their second place but also to see further, before completing their autumn period with two test-matches against the XV de la Rose, one of the world references. .

- Scotland and the wooden spoon -

England, "we see that it is really a homogeneous group, a solid group, they make very few mistakes, it is clean in everything they do, it is built ...", explains back Jessy Trémouliere.

"We are going to say that we are still a little young, even if we have experience. This is a point on which we have to improve. We sometimes lack a bit of savvy too" , details the 28-year-old Auvergne, voted best player in the world in 2018.

The Glasgow duel on Sunday is more of a small fry for the "Hungry" in view of the results of Scotland, almost subscribed to the last place in the competition for the last twelve years.

She also finished it with the wooden spoon in 2019.

The 2020 edition has so far gone very poorly for the XV du Chardon.

After an honorable match in Ireland (18-14 defeat), the Scots were showered in Edinburgh by the superiority of the English (53-0).

This meeting will mark the return of the opener from Blagnac Audrey Abadie, associated with the hinge at the versatile scrum half of Bayonne Pauline Bourdon.

The big absentee is the third line Romane Ménager, twin sister of Marine, who had missed the September camp due to a concussion.

© 2020 AFP