Pauline Bourdon Sansus, arguably France’s best female player, will sit out the opening match of France’s Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 campaign after picking up a two-match suspension for her comments about refereeing standards in the domestic Elite 1 competition at the end of May.
Scrum-half Bourdon Sansus was banned after telling journalists ‘fair and consistent’ refereeing was ‘not yet the case’ in the French domestic women’s game, after her Toulouse side had lost 32-24 to Stade Bordelais in the final at Stade Marcel Michelin on May 31st.
The experienced and talismanic number nine will miss the warm-up match against England on August 9th in Mont-de-Marsan and the World Cup opener against Italy at Sandy Park on August 23rd. She will be available for the second group match, against Brazil, at the same venue on August 31st.
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In the meantime, France will rely on Grenoble’s Alexandra Chambon and Bourdon Sansus’s Toulouse team-mate Océane Bordes.
Coach Gaëlle Mignot took the news that one of France’s star players would be absent for the crucial first game in her stride. At a press conference on Wednesday marking the start of the squad’s pre-tournament preparations, she said: “It’s a subject that often comes up when a key player gets injured, or isn’t on the team sheet.
“Our aim is to prepare this squad for all eventualities. We don’t want to be dependent on one player. There are players in her position who have shown they are perfectly capable of starting matches. Gabrielle Vernier also missed matches in the [Six Nations]. The squad is ready.”
She speaks from experience. While Bourdon Sansus will miss a single match in England, France head to the World Cup without another big-game player. Backrow Romane Ménager revealed in May that she will take a six-month break from the game following repeated head injuries – and plans to spend more time playing sevens in future.
Despite the early player bad news, France’s co-captains Marine Ménager and Manae Feleu said the 38-player squad were “eager to spend [the next] three months together”.
Ménager, who will call time on her playing career at the end of France’s World Cup challenge, admitted that Les Bleues’ strong Six Nations’ run earlier this year meant that – in a World Cup year – the spotlight on the women’s squad was brighter than usual.
“I think there are more expectations today,” she said, “but I think it’s a very positive thing. It means that people are watching us more, that they’re paying attention to our performances and following us.
“For once, we really want to focus on the positive side. We’re also lucky to have people who are very kind to us. I think the negative comments after the England match can be counted on the fingers of one hand. We received a lot of messages of encouragement, pride too, from the fans.”
That positivity has helped, but France have been working hard on their mental as well as physical preparation. “We’ve been building for three years,” Ménager said. “This year, we’ve refined things. We’re focusing more on the details, on the field, off the field, or even with our preparation systems.
“It was clear to see in the Six Nations. Physically, we were ready, we felt great. Mentally, we had a few areas to work on, but we’re coming together as a group, we’re managing to take it to the next level, to discuss different aspects of mental preparation.”
Feleu said that a potentially difficult opener against Italy would be an ideal start to France’s World Cup challenge: “Italy are always special matches. They’re a team that can surprise us – you never know how they’re going to go.
“They have a game that’s quite similar to ours. They like to play the ball. They’re instinctive players and they’ve been getting better and better over the past few years. Starting with Italy is going to be very good – it’ll put us straight into the game.”
Co-coach David Ortiz sees further challenges deeper into France’s group-phase matches: “We have very different team profiles: an Italian team that plays like us, a South African team that will impose a strong and direct game, a Brazilian team that will cause us some uncertainty, [because] they’re a team we know little about.
“Ultimately, what we see in our journey is the opportunity to continue to grow and the sequence of these matches should allow us to gain strength and then, obviously, aim for our ‘final’ objective.”
And Mignot looked to the past for a path forward: “The [Six Nations] match in England has whetted our appetite and made us really want to keep going and push hard, because we feel that we are not far from turning things around in a way that will be extremely positive for everyone.
“Our position today is more of an outsider for the World Cup, but I believe that our clear objective is to do everything we can to go all the way.”
First, though, is a rather more pressing engagement. “I’m getting married this weekend,” Ménager said. “It’s a rugby wedding, so maybe there will be a screen showing the Top 14 final.”
