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Les Anglaises ont survolé le Tournoi, à l’inverse des Françaises
Une victoire à Bordeaux samedi 27 avril permettrait aux Red Roses de réaliser un troisième Grand Chelem consécutif et de remporter leur sixième Tournoi des Six Nations d’affilée.
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Certes le Tournoi a perdu en compétitivité ces dernières années (il n’y a qu’à voir les scores de dictateur de l’Angleterre cette année), mais le match décisif a toujours été à la hauteur des enjeux.
L’an dernier, cinq points seulement séparaient les deux équipes à Twickenham, devant un public record pour un test féminin de 58 498 personnes. On ne comptait que 12 points d’écart à Bayonne un an plus tôt et quatre points en 2021.
Trop facile pour les Anglaises ?
Les Red Roses ont progressivement pris l’avantage sur leurs adversaires françaises depuis leur dernière défaite au Tournoi des Six Nations en 2018, mais elles ont dû travailler dur pour l’obtenir.
Cette année, les filles de John Mitchell ont marqué 38 essais au cours de leurs quatre victoires contre l’Italie, le Pays de Galles, l’Écosse et l’Irlande.
Elles ont marqué 228 points et n’en ont concédé que 20. Personne n’a réussi à battre les Red Roses.
D’un autre côté, les choses n’ont pas été aussi faciles pour les Françaises elles aussi invaincues. À Édimbourg, elles sont parvenues à vaincre l’Écosse 15 à 5, alors que les Écossaises ont mené pendant une grande partie du match.
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Il y a eu des victoires confortables contre l’Irlande (38-17), l’Italie (38-15) et le Pays de Galles (40-0 à Cardiff), mais les championnes du Tournoi des Six Nations 2018 n’ont pas été à leur meilleur niveau.
« Une chose qui joue en faveur de la France, c’est qu’elle a eu des matchs serrés, des surprises et qu’elle a dû travailler », a commenté l’ancienne internationale Kat Merchant, championne du monde 2014 avec l’Angleterre, dans le podcast Rugby Union Weekly de la BBC.
« L’Angleterre aurait pu jouer sans problème avec 13 joueuses et battre toutes ses adversaires qu’elle a affrontées jusqu’à présent.
« Aller en France et ne pas être préparé de cette façon, en n’ayant pas eu de rencontre difficile, pourrait bien jouer contre elles. »
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Face à face
5 dernières rencontres
Victoires
0
Nuls
0
Victoires
5
Moyenne de points marqués
18
23
Le premier essai gagne
60%
L'équipe recevante gagne
60%
La France habituée au sursaut
La France a failli surprendre l’Angleterre à Twickenham l’année dernière en réalisant une incroyable remontée de 33 points en deuxième mi-temps.
Les Red Roses avaient pourtant déployé tout leur jeu en inscrivant cinq essais sans réponse en première période et menaient 33-0 à la pause.
Mais le match s’est terminé sur un score de 38-33, la France s’étant lâchée en seconde période, marquant des essais depuis n’importe où – un avertissement avant le match à Bordeaux pour ne jamais les oublier.
Là où tout pourrait se jouer
La défense de l’Angleterre dirigée par Sarah Hunter a été excellente dans le Tournoi des Six Nations cette année, ne concédant que 20 points et deux essais.
En revanche, les tirs au but ont été un problème pour l’Angleterre tout au long du Tournoi et pourraient être cruciaux dans un match serré décisif pour le titre.
De même, la discipline pourrait être un facteur important. Malgré un carton infligé à la demie de mêlée remplaçante Lucy Packer à Twickenham, les Red Roses ont amélioré leur discipline après les cartons rouges reçus par Sarah Beckett et Amy Cokayne contre l’Italie et l’Écosse.
Le sélectionneur John Mitchell a pourtant martelé que son équipe continuerait à flirter aux limites de la règle, au risque de se prendre un carton.
Mais avec la capacité de la France à marquer des essais de n’importe où, si l’Angleterre dépasse à nouveau les limites, elle pourrait finalement être punie pour sa mauvaise discipline pour la première fois dans la compétition.
Comments on RugbyPass
I bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen 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.
28 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….
28 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….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments