France also known as Les Blues play their home games in strip comprising blue shirts with a cockerel badge. The blue shirt has been worn with pride by some well known names for example; Serge Blanco, Serge Betsen, Frank Mesnel, Pierre Villepreux, Bernard Laporte, Fabien Galthie, Tony marsh, Raphael Ibanez, Alain Rougerie, Christophe Dominici, Frederic Michalak, Thomas Castaignede and Damien Traille.
error message from ebay is:France became Olympic champions winning the gold medal in 1900, the first time rugby was played at the event. They did not however, start playing the home nations until 1906 when they played England then Wales in 1908, Ireland in 1909 and finally Scotland in 1910. Thus the five nations was born and remained the format until 2000 when Italy created the six nations by joining the competition. France play their home internationals at; The Stade de France, 93216 Saint-Denis, Paris.
France still suffer from a tremendous ability to self destruct particularly when they play away from home. The side is still full of players with great flair and natural ability but even with Bernard Laporte and his discipline they frequently fall at the last hurdle in major competition. 2007 will be a watershed season for Les Blues as they host the Rugby World Cup.
The home of French rugby union used to be Parc de Princes, but with its opening in 1998, the stadium in St Denis replaced it. If you want a hotel near the Stade de France when you are popping over for a French international game, see what Matchhotels have to offer.
1984Coached by Jacques Fouroux the French progressed through the first three matches of their 1984 Five Nations campaign undefeated, beating England and Ireland in Paris and Wales at Cardiff Arms Park. In their final game they travelled to Murrayfield to face the Scots, (who were also unbeaten), eventually losing 21-12 and consigning themselves to a 2nd place finish overall. | 1987Drawn in a pool with Scotland, Romania and Zimbabwe the French opened their campaign in the inaugural World Cup with a 20-all draw against the Scots, before easily accounting for the other two sides and qualifying at the top of their group for the knock-out phase. A comfortable win over Fiji in the Quarter-final set up a clash in Australia against the Wallabies, where the French pulled off one of the great last-gasp upset wins, scoring in the dying seconds to snatch a 30-24 victory. In the final they were outplayed by the All Blacks, 29-9. | ||
1993The French opened their 5 Nations campaign with the narrowest of losses, 16-15, against England at Twickenham, before bouncing back with wins over Scotland (11-3) and Ireland (21-6). After England’s loss to the Welsh in the second round of matches it all came down to the final weekend, and, with Ireland’s resounding 17-3 win over England at Lansdowne Road the French simply needed to beat Wales to secure the title, which they duly did, wining 26-10 in Paris. | 1996The French opened their 5 Nations campaign with the narrowest of losses, 16-15, against England at Twickenham, before bouncing back with wins over Scotland (11-3) and Ireland (21-6). After England’s loss to the Welsh in the second round of matches it all came down to the final weekend, and, with Ireland’s resounding 17-3 win over England at Lansdowne Road the French simply needed to beat Wales to secure the title, which they duly did, wining 26-10 in Paris. | ||
1998As they looked to build towards the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales the French were hitting their straps as the ’98 Five Nations got underway, opening their campaign with a stirring 24-17 win over the English at the Stade de France. Momentum continued to build as they squashed Scotland at Murrayfield and sneaked past Ireland, 18-16, in Paris, before wrapping up the title with a remarkable 51-0 win over Wales in Cardiff. | 1999Having eased through a group that included Fiji, Namibia and Canada the French met Argentina in the Quarter Finals of the 1999 World Cup, winning comfortably 47-26 to set up a daunting clash against competition favorites New Zealand. But, in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the game the French turned on a startling second-half performance to stun the All Blacks 43-31 at Twickenham, earning a date with Australia in the final. Unfortunately for the French they had played their final the week before, provided little resistance as the Wallabies claimed their second World Cup crown with a comprehensive 35-12 win. | ||
2002Coached by Bernard Laporte the 2002 French side were looking to claim their first title since the Five Nations expanded to accommodate Italy in 2000, and they started on the right note with a 33-12 win over the newcomers. A gutsy win in Wales followed the week after, then narrow defeats of England and Scotland at Murrayfield. In the final match they hosted Ireland, where Keith Woods’ lone try for the visitors was no match for a rampant French side, who claimed their first 6 Nations crown and secured the Grand Slam with a 44-5 win. | 2004-05In 2004 Bernard Laporte’s side repeated their heroics of 2002, clean-sweeping the 6 Nations with a 35-17 over Ireland, a 25-0 defeat of Italy, a hard-fought 29-22 victory in Cardiff, a 31-0 pounding of the Scots at Murrayfield and a hugely satisfying 24-21 win over England in the final game. The following year the Welsh emerged as France’s toughest competition, with the two unbeaten sides meeting in Paris in the third round of tournament. The visiting Red Dragons claimed one of their best results in years with a 24-18 win in that match, going on to claim the title and consigning the French to runners-up spot. | ||
2006-07The French opened their 2006 Six Nations campaign in inauspicious style, losing 20-16 to Scotland, before bouncing back to beat Ireland 43-31, Italy 37-12, England 31-6 and Wales 21-6 to claim the title. Hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2007 the French were upset in the first match of pool play, losing to Argentina. They managed to qualify for the knock-out phase of the competition however, where they inflicted another stunning loss on the much-favoured All Blacks, winning 20-18 and booking a date with the English in the Semi-Final. They lost that game, 14-9, and were beaten by the Argentinians again in the 3rd and 4th Place playoff. | 2008-09The 2008 side, coached by Lionel Nallet, enjoyed a mix season, finishing mid-table in the Six Nations. Having opened their account in solid fashion with a 27-6 win over Scotland they went on to beat Ireland 26-21 in Paris, before losing to England 24-13. They bounced back with a win over Italy a loss to eventual champions Wales in the last match left them third on the final table. Little changed the following year as the French again finished third in the 6 Nations following losses to Ireland and England. | ||
2010Several disappointing seasons for the French resulted in a change of coach, with Marc Lievermont being handed the reigns ahead of the 2010 Six Nations. His tenure started in sound fashion with an 18-9 win over Scotland at Murrayfield, before a resounding 33-10 defeat of the Irish signaled the start of a new era in French rugby. Travelling to Cardiff they beat the Welsh 26-20, thrashed the Italians 46-20 and wrapped-up the Grand Slam in Paris with a hard-fought 12-10 victory over England. | 2011France’s 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign perfectly sums up the highs and lows this famous side constantly experience! They exhibited mediocre form in pool play, losing to New Zealand 37-17 and being beaten by Tonga in Wellington. Having done just enough to scrape through to the knockout phase, and amidst media reposts of serious discontent within the team they then went on to beat England 19-12 and Wales 9-8 to book a place in the final. Here they turned on the performance of their competition, pushing the home side New Zealand to the final whistle. They narrowly missed claiming their first-ever World Cup title, eventually losing 8-7. | ||
2012France returned to their inconsistent best in 2012, starting the Six Nations with a comprehensive win over Italy in Paris, before their match with Ireland was postponed due to unplayable pitch conditions. They prevailed in the next game at Murrayfield before finally meeting the Irish in a rescheduled match that resulted in a 17-all draw. Any chance of a title were scuttled when the English upset them 24-22 in Paris, and they were merely the supporting cast when Wales capped off a title-winning campaign by beating them 16-9 in Cardiff. |