Les Bleues in the semi-finals after their victory against Italy

The French women’s rugby team qualified for the semi-finals of the World Cup on Saturday thanks to its clear victory against Italy (39-3), in Whangarei (New Zealand), making the difference in the second period.

Next Saturday at Eden Park in Auckland, the French women will be opposed in the semi-final to the winner of the second quarter of the day, between the New Zealanders, reigning world champions, and the Welsh.

Les Bleues released after an hour of play

Gaëlle Hermet’s teammates validated their ticket in the last four thanks to a much more successful second period than the first. As often between these two formations, the match took place in a tense climate given the stakes, each gauging the other.

Both French and Italian got stuck in a false rhythm, for a meeting which took time to go from a sluggish and laborious tone to the more playful and twirling tone that the public had the right to expect from a quarter-final of World Cup. It was not until almost the hour of play that the French finally freed themselves, following a penalty try granted by the referee of the meeting, and that the three quarters tricolor let go of the horses, like by Joanna Grisez, author of a hat-trick.