France beats Brazil to reach Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-finals

A demonstration and a qualification! On Sunday, August 31, the French women's rugby team ticked all the boxes on the Sandy Park pitch in Exeter, England, by winning by a landslide against Brazil (84-5). A week after their lackluster victory against Italy , the players of coaches Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz – who had made eleven changes at kickoff – went back and forth in the Yaras' in-goal area to open the doors to the quarter-finals.

Earlier in the day, South Africa had caused a surprise by defeating Italy (29-24) in the other Group D match. As a result, both the Springboks and Les Bleues are already assured of qualification for the final stages even before their duel on Sunday, September 7. A clash that will be important, since the losing team will probably have to face New Zealand, the defending champion, in the quarter-finals.

Before thinking about what's next, captain Marine Ménager and her teammates can already reflect on their performance against Brazil. A match controlled from start to finish, unlike the one against Italy, during which the fans had to wait nearly half an hour to finally see a try. This time, the Tricolores didn't hang around. In the ^5th minute, fullback Emilie Boulard already scored once, imitated two minutes later by third-row center Marie Morland, then by scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus, back from suspension.

Before the quarter of an hour of play had passed, the gap was already made against the Brazilians who are discovering the Rugby World Cup on the occasion of this 2025 edition. Then, the instruction was clear: "Score as soon as we can, put all our scoring opportunities to the back of the net," Gaëlle Mignot demanded before the match. All this, while being careful not to fall into individualism. "We will have to remain collective because, in this kind of match, where it seems too easy, we can quickly want to show off to earn our place for the next match and get out of the playing patterns," warned former international Marie Sempéré, consultant for TF1.

So many instructions were followed to the letter. At the heart of the attacking festival, ten French players shared the 14 tries scored. But the highlight of the match perhaps took place in the opposing half, when Brazilian Bianca Silva took the ball and a gap in midfield in the ^65th minute of play. After a long run, the fullback reached the in-goal area to score the first try in the Yaras' history in the competition, to the cheers of the crowd.

A minor try for the French team, who, surely keen to conserve energy for the future, limited their large-scale attacks at the end of the match. The icing on the cake is that the French coaching staff can also be satisfied that none of their players suffered an injury during the match and have all their strength available for the rest of the competition – with the exception of back-row Teani Feleu, who suffered a left foot injury against Italy.