The France women's national rugby union team represents

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in women's international rugby union. They played the first-ever

women's rugby union Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Women's rugby has become popular recently. These days, women's r ...

test match against the

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on 13 June 1982. They compete annually in the Women's Six Nations Championship and have placed third in seven of nine

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's.

History

''Source: "Des Filles en Ovalie", Éditions Atlantica (2005), Written by Jacques Corte / Yaneth Pinilla B. Foreword by Serge Betsen.'' There are records of women's rugby being played in France as early as the mid-1890s, and in the 1920s a form of the game called "barette" was very popular, with national championships. However, after the 1930s the game had all but disappeared and was not revived until 1965 when groups of students in Lyon and Toulouse decided to take part in the great charitable campaign against world hunger. Most of them had brothers and friends who played rugby, so they decided to organise a charity game at Bourg-en-Bresse. So successful was this that a regular series of games began, with clubs being formed as students graduated, initially mainly in the south. In 1969 a national association – the ARF omen's Rugby Association– was formed. Despite initial opposition to the game from both the government and the FFR (who briefly banned any FFR officials from officiating at women's games) by 1976 12 clubs were taking part in national competitions. In 1982, by which time the number of clubs had more than doubled, the ARF signed a memorandum of understanding was agreed with the FFR which finally gave their official backing – and in the same year France took part in the first ever women's rugby international. 2014 Six Nations"> File:2014 Women's Six Nations Championship - France vs Italy (1).jpg, alt= File:2014 W6N - France vs Italy - 5506.jpg File:2014 W6N - France vs Italy - 6085.jpg Since 2002, France has won six Women's Six Nations titles and are the next most successful team in the competition after

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Players

Current squad

France's 32-player squad for the Women's Six Nations Championship was announced on 7 March 2025.

World Cup squads

Notable players

* Nathalie Amiel was inducted into the

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on 17 November 2014. She made her international debut at 15 against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

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in 1986. She went on to win 56 caps for France by the time she retired in 2002. She played at three Women's Rugby World Cups in 1991, 1994 and 2002.

Award winners

World Rugby Awards

The following France players have been recognised at the

World Rugby Awards The World Rugby Awards are given out annually by World Rugby (until November 2014, known as the International Rugby Board), the worldwide governing body for rugby union, for major achievements in the sport. The idea of rewarding excellence in ru ...

since 2001:

Six Nations Awards

The following France players have been recognised in the Women's Six Nations Awards since 2020:

Record

''Note: Although the FFR list all of the following as full internationals or "test matches" in their publications (including thei
website
, they do not award caps for all of the games. In particular, no caps have been officially awarded for appearances before 1989 (when the FFR became responsible for women's rugby), and most matches in FIRA tournaments after 2004 are uncapped. As a result, there can be a significant difference between the number of appearances players may have made for France and their official number of caps''.

Overall

''(Full internationals only)''
''Correct as of 29 April 2023''

World Cup

References

External links

*
Official website
of the

Fédération Française de Rugby The French Rugby Federation (, ; FFR) is the governing body for rugby union in France. It is responsible for the France national rugby union team, French national team and the National Rugby League (France), Ligue nationale de rugby that administ ...

News
on Planet-Rugby.com
France
on IRB.com {{Rugby union in France

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

European national women's rugby union teams national