France Women

France head into the next cycle still processing a home World Cup that ended one step short of the medals they have come to expect. In September 2025, on their own soil, Les Bleues lost the semi-final to England 35–17 and then the bronze match to New Zealand 42–26, finishing fourth for only the second time in the tournament's history. David Ortiz oversaw that campaign; François Ratier takes charge from the 2026 Six Nations.

The team's history runs back to a single result: a 4–0 win over the Netherlands in Utrecht on 13 June 1982, the first women's rugby union test ever played. France joined the Five Nations in 1998 and lost the final in each of its first three editions before breaking through in 2002, the year the competition became the Six Nations.

At the World Cup, that same pattern of arriving but not quite finishing has held for longer. France have taken bronze seven times — 1991, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2017 and 2021 — without ever reaching a final. Laetitia Salles built the platform for much of that run with a record 92 caps between 2003 and 2014, and Jessy Trémoulière, named World Rugby Player of the Year in 2018, later Player of the Decade, gave the side a reliable points source through the following seasons. Manaé Feleu captains the current group.

France have no fixed home ground, moving fixtures between the Stade de France in Saint-Denis and smaller grounds such as Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux and Jean-Bouin in Paris depending on the opponent and occasion. A World Cup final has still to be played.