Rugger Girls: Part 9 - the first French national team

1980s: THE NATIONAL SELECTION

Ninth chapter of the summary of the history of women's rugby, from the book "Rugger Girls"("Des Filles en Ovalie"), written by Jacques B. Corti and Yaneth Pinilla Foreword by Serge Betsen. Published weekly(ish) by French women's rugby blog Des Filles en Ovalie.

At the 1982 AFRF General Assembly, Nadine Leterre, who had elected two years before by Tulle Women, proposed to implement an idea that had been in the air for several seasons: the creation of the French national team. And this time the dream did not remain in draft - just weeks later the first international match took place. On June 3, 1982, in Utrecht, Holland hosted France. The little French, led by Jackie Leterre and Claude Izoard, won 0-4.

"From the beginning we had an rough plan. We needed to be familiar with the women and girls playing rugby. And they wanted to know how to develop their game technically," said Jacky Laterre, more than twenty years later. "We worked in closely with the club coaches," remembers Claude Izoard, "trying to find a central place  that girls could make, travelling as few kilometers as possible."

The international games continued. In May 27 1984 in Hilversum the Netherlands defeated France 0-3, but for this game there was a small novelty: the girls got a navy blue tracksuit and shirts which they decided to decorate, sewing on a badge. That of AFRF (not FFR!).

The following year the first meeting took place against the English*. In Richmond, the French maintained their dominance in Europe by beating the first women's representatives of Perfidious Albion 8 to 14.

Extract from the book "Des Filles en Ovalie", Editions Atlantica (2005), Written by Jacques Corte / Yaneth Pinilla B. Foreword by Serge Betsen.


*NOTE: Actually, Des Filles en Ovalie is a little incorrect here. The game took place 19th April 1986 (not 1985), and the team France played in Richmond was Great Britain (you can read a match report here). England would not play their first international until 1987, and did not meet France until the semi-final of the first World Cup in 1991.