France ready to upset the odds at Twickenham

France are only too aware that their recent history against England does not plead in their favour but centre Gabrielle Vernier is confident they have the weapons to trouble the Red Roses on Super Saturday.

France are only too aware that their recent history against England does not plead in their favour but centre Gabrielle Vernier is confident they have the weapons to trouble the Red Roses on Super Saturday.

Les Bleues will head to Twickenham for a Grand Slam decider looking to end a run of 11 straight defeats to England, their last success against their biggest rivals dating back to 2018.

While that streak should give the home side plenty of confidence ahead of playing in front of a world record crowd, seven of those games have been decided by less than a score.

And with France improving game on game under new coaches Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz, standout centre Vernier is optimistic that they can spring a surprise in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations decider.

She said: “We wouldn’t be going on Saturday if we didn’t believe. We will go with our weapons and will give it everything. It will be a global spectacle for women’s rugby, we are lucky enough to be part of it.

“We want to win the Six Nations, so we will do everything we can on the pitch, give it everything as a team. There is a great squad, we are building something and have a great dynamic since the start of the Championship so we have the weapons at our disposal to go and, why not spring a surprise on Saturday.”

With more than 50,000 tickets already sold for the encounter, this will be the biggest crowd ever for a women’s rugby match, topping the number of spectators who were at the World Cup final in Auckland last year.

That means it will be a step into the unknown for both sides, but for No.8 Romane Ménager, who has returned from injury midway through this campaign, the key will be to block out the outside noise.

She said: “We know there will be a lot of people and it will be a huge event for women’s rugby. But we are trying not to focus too much on that. We are focused on the sporting performance this weekend, we know it will be a big match.

“We want to continue with what we have done in this Championship and to keep improving and enjoying ourselves. Everything that goes with it is a bonus.”