France women's national rugby union team

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 [Women'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.

• French squad during 2014 Six Nations
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Note: Although the FFR list all of the following as full internationals or "test matches" in their publications (including their 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.

(Full internationals only)
Correct as of 23 February 2020

France internationals since 1982

Opponent	First played	Games played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Success rate (%)
Australia	1998	5	4	0	1	80.00
Belgium	1988	1	1	0	0	100.00
Canada	1996	15	8	0	7	53.33
England	1991	47	14	0	33	27.79
Germany	1997	1	1	0	0	100.00
Great Britain	1986	4	3	0	1	75.00
Ireland	1994	28	24	1	3	85.71
Italy	1985	23	19	1	3	82.61
Japan	1988	3	3	0	0	100.00
Kazakhstan	1998	3	3	0	0	100.00
Netherlands	1982	12	11	0	1	91.67
New Zealand	1996	7	2	0	5	28.57
Scotland	1998	26	23	0	5	88.46
South Africa	2009	3	2	1	0	66.67
Spain	1989	19	14	0	5	73.68
Sweden	1988	4	4	0	0	100.00
United States	1996	13	10	1	2	76.92
Wales	1994	26	22	0	4	84.62
Total		237	163	4	70	68.78