Contract completed for Les Bleues.

The women's XV of France qualified on Saturday October 22 for the quarter-finals of the World Cup thanks to their big victory over the Fijians (44-0) in Whangarei (New Zealand), acquired with style and seven tries, including one doubled by Maëlle Filopon.

Les Bleues, victorious over South Africa (40-5), then narrowly defeated by England (13-7), are now guaranteed to finish the group stage in second place behind the "Red Roses" with 11 dots.

Gaëlle Hermet's teammates will know their opponent in the quarterfinals next weekend at 10:30 a.m. (Paris time) on Sunday.

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The French, bronze medalists at the last World Cup in 2017, absolutely had to win against the Fijians to secure this second place in Pool C, and ideally with the offensive bonus point so as not to face the quarter-finals best nations: England, New Zealand and Canada.

Indeed, at the end of the group stages on Sunday, a ranking of the eight best teams will be established, on which the posters of the quarters will be based according to the following principle: 1st against 8th, 2nd against 7th, etc.

For the moment, and before the last three matches on Sunday, two counting for Pool B and the last for Pool C between England and South Africa, Les Bleues are in second place in this general classification.

Italy in quarters

They should finish fourth and, in all likelihood, meet Italy in the quarterfinals.

The Fijians, to whom the English had passed fourteen tries and who had then surprised everyone by defeating the South Africans at the last minute, made a good figure despite the extent of the defeat, for their first participation in a Cup of the world.

At half-time, the French had already scored three tries, the first two following balls carried, signed Marine Ménager (7th) and Mélissande Llorens (28th), the last in conclusion of a surplus on the wing, by Maëlle Filopon (40th).

Upon returning from the locker room, the Fijians took the hit physically, allowing the Habs to score the fourth liberating try (57th), synonymous with an offensive bonus, for the double from center Maëlle Filopon.

The third line Émeline Gros worsened the score a few minutes later (62nd).

Satisfied with her performance even if she considers that she did not have "the best match of her career" (she notably missed 3 conversions), Jessy Trémoulière (72 caps), established for her first World Cup match at the opening, retained "these small hand errors which deprive us of points at the end and even throughout the match", and which will have to be "erased" in the final phase.

An observation shared by the coach of the Bleues Thomas Darracq, who regretted "a lot of small slag near the lines where we must score a lot more tries".

"There are faults on the releases on the scrums, touches that are poorly controlled at times when we are close to the lines", he underlined.

Overwhelmed in impact, ending the match at fourteen after the exclusion of their back Roela Radiniyavuni, the Fijians conceded two tries at the very end of the match, signed by Émilie Boulard (71st) and Célia Domain (80+1), without being able to score a single point.

With AFP

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