In a game littered with French internationals, Bordeaux clinched their third consecutive French title with an epic 32–24 win over Toulouse in the Élite 1 final.
With their men’s team winning the Investec Champions Cup earlier in the month, the women’s team have sealed off an unforgettable season for the club.
Right from the kick off, Toulouse looked to set the pace and move the ball wide, but Bordeaux’s Lionnes quickly regained control. After six scrappy minutes marked by handling errors, Morgane Bourgeois got the scoreboard ticking with an early penalty.
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Building momentum, Bordeaux scored the first try of the match through sheer power, with Madoussou Fall crashing over. Off a lineout, they launched a dominant maul that steamrolled the Toulouse defence.
The opening 20 minutes were clearly in Bordeaux’s favour, as they asserted their superiority in the physical battle.
“We’ve got to stop handing them gifts. We’ve already given away ten points. We need to fix our lineouts—we had two good ones in their half, and we couldn’t secure either. We’ve got issues to sort out in the set-piece,” summed up Stade Toulousain coach Olivier Marin in the 20th minute on the Canal+ television coverage.
Toulouse had opportunities to put their game in place, but too many knock-ons and errors kept them from taking control. Bordeaux, meanwhile, stayed composed and doubled their lead once again through power play, this time with Annaëlle Deshayes scoring from five metres out.
Despite trying to mount attacks, Toulouse found themselves consistently shut down by a well-drilled Bordeaux defence, whose rush pressure was relentless. Even when they powered up to the try line in the 38th minute, the ball was expertly jackalled away by the Lionnes.
Eventually, Toulouse got on the board thanks to full-back Pauline Barrat, who was put into space by Kelly Arbey. She danced through and shrugged off three tackles before grounding the ball under the posts.
Despite this score, Bordeaux held a commanding 17–7 lead at half-time.
Speaking before heading into the sheds, Toulouse’s scrum-half Pauline Bourdon-Sansus said: “We need to play as much as we can and bring the tempo up to break them. We’re being too undisciplined. We need to stick to our style, but keep our discipline.”
After the break, Toulouse once again paid the price for their lack of dominance in the air—first in the lineouts, then with ill-disicipline in the scrums. Jennifer Cros was shown a yellow card for repeated infringements shortly after coming on, following two reset scrums.
Bordeaux immediately capitalised in the next phase, scoring another close-range try—once again through sheer force—this time from Canadian international Fabiola Forteza, freshly returning from the Pacific Four Series, making the score 24–7.
And still, Bordeaux kept pushing. Bourgeois slotted another three points in the 55th minute to stretch the lead to 20, but they didn’t have it all their own way with winger Joanna Grisez shown a yellow card for cynical play just before the hour mark.
Toulouse thought they had finally made use of the extra player in the 62nd minute, but their try was ruled out. It was only on the following play that Lina Queyroi managed to score her side’s second try, finishing off a well-worked move to the edge, launched by Bourdon-Sansus.
The momentum began to shift, and Forteza was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Arbey. The Toulouse full-back responded instantly, scoring her team’s third try off a well-executed lineout move. After several hard-earned phases and individual battles won, the ball was spun wide to find the French sevens international out wide on the opposite wing.
But once Grisez returned to the field, the Lionnes regained ground and re-established position deep in the Toulouse 22 with ten minutes to go.
Bourgeois missed her first kick at goal in the 70th minute and hit the post on another attempt two minutes later, but made up for it moments later with a try-saving tackle five metres out, after Toulouse had gone 70 metres on the counter.
The Reds and Blacks came back to within three points thanks to an inspired try from Léa Murie. After winning a crucial scrum penalty, Toulouse swept the pitch from left to right, then came back inside to send the winger over and keep the dream alive.
But as they pushed for the winning try, two minutes after the final hooter, Toulouse were heartbreakingly cut down by an interception from Aubane Rousset, who ran it back to score between the posts.
At the end of a breathless final, Bordeaux sealed the victory to clinch their third consecutive French championship title.
