Gabrielle Vernier: 'We're not far off an achievement' against England
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The centre of the French women’s team is taking a clear-headed approach to the final crunch match of the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
Gabrielle Vernier (26, 44 caps) has faced England nine times in her career. And never, never has the French women’s centre beaten the Red Roses. Twice the margin has been just two points: 17-15 at Exeter on 16 November 2019 and by the exact same score at Villeneuve-d’Ascq on 30 April 2021.
As she prepares to take on England in the final match of the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations in Bordeaux, the Blagnac player is under no illusions. “England will be favourites and we’ll be looking for a feat,” she told L’Equipe’s aptly-named Crunch podcast.
“It’s a feat we have to achieve. We know England are on a great run in the Six Nations. We have the weapons to try and compete with them and we can’t wait to show what we can do and seize the opportunity to complete a Grand Slam.”
The player who is one of the leaders of this year’s squad was reluctant to talk about the clash with England at the start of the tournament. Experience, no doubt. Wisdom. “We know we’re capable of making mistakes, of having bad games. It wouldn’t have helped us to think about England at the start of the tournament,” she says.
“We’ve learnt to take it one game at a time, put in good performances to grow throughout this Six Nations and I think we’ve done that. We’ve built ourselves up, we’ve played games with varying degrees of success. But it’s all about learning and we’ve improved in terms of level and skill, so we’ve got all the ingredients this weekend.”
The ingredients needed
The ingredients include a free-flowing game that is as pleasing to play as it is to watch, instilled by the coaching duo of Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz. It was also the scrum that saved France against Wales, when the lineouts were in a sorry state with six loose balls.
“It’s really important to get a clean sheet in the big games. Wales read us really well and counter-attacked really well in this game. It’s up to us to work hard to come up with something different against England. Luckily, we have a very solid scrum,” the engineer smiled.
The other ingredient is discipline, which has not been lacking so far: 33 penalties whistled in four games, the second most disciplined team in the tournament behind Ireland with 32. Everything was fine until three cards against Wales on matchday four.
“It’s a bit of a lack of control on our part. It happens. It’s true that three cards in the course of a game is a bit much,” she said, trying to put things into perspective.
If Les Bleues have such a good record, it’s undoubtedly thanks to the recurring presence of Aurélie Groizeleau, the international referee who comes to Marcoussis from time to time to oversee training sessions.
“She gives us feedback on the games we play and explains the mistakes we make. She takes part in our matches and gives us live feedback on the mistakes we might be making. It pays off,” says Vernier.
So close
Like the coaches, the centre believes the team is ready to “cause an upset” against John Mitchell’s team, especially as the win will come with a first Grand Slam since 2018. It was her first, her only to date. And nothing since.
“We’re a generation that’s worked for years and years and haven’t had a title to show for it. It’s frustrating for all the hard work we put in every day to win titles. But we don’t come here thinking we’re not going to win anything. On the contrary, we tell ourselves that we’re not the favourites, but we also know that we’re not far away from doing something. It would be the best reward for all the hard work we’ve put in over the years,” she says.
If the French are aware that they’re “not far from an achievement”, it’s because they’re still thinking about the last time these two teams met, in front of 58,498 at Twickenham in 2023. England won the Grand Slam 38-33 in a match marked by two very different halves.
“We had a total blank for 20-25 minutes where we scored 30 points in 20 minutes,” recalls the 2023 Player of the Tournament. “We were in their half for the first 20 minutes, and we didn’t score. That’s what put us in this situation. If we’d scored in the opening minutes of last year’s game, I think it would have been a different story.”
Trailing 33-0 at the break and in trouble after two yellow cards (Jessy Trémoulière and Rose Bernadou), Les Bleues fought back in the second half with a first try from Emilie Boulard (48th), a second from Gabrielle Vernier (55th), a third from Charlotte Escudero (65th), a fourth from Emeline Gros (76th) and a last one from Cyrielle Banet (79th).
Meanwhile, the Red Roses could only manage one try. But the damage had already been done.
“In previous meetings, we have missed the first half,” admits Gaby. “It’s a fresh memory. We talk about it amongst ourselves. This second half shows that we’re capable of anything if we play with freedom, if we play good rugby and have fun.
“We managed to take them completely off their game in the second half. Last year’s game showed us what we’re capable of when all the ingredients come together. It gives us even more motivation for this year because we know we’re capable of doing great things against them.”
The French know what it takes to succeed and have been working towards that goal all week. A record crowd at the Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux – “I’m hoping for 30,000!” – could be the extra edge France need for victory.
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
3 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments