Brilliantly led by their first-five Caroline Drouin, France have won the World Cup bronze medal play-off match 36-0 against Canada at Eden Park this afternoon.
Drouin, who missed the last-minute penalty in the semifinal last weekend which would have won the game for France against the Black Ferns, didn’t appear to be adversely affected by the high-profile disappointment.
The Black Ferns survived by the slimmest of margins to win the match 25-24 and make the final against England.
Clearly one of the best No.10s in the tournament along with New Zealand’s Ruahei Demant and England’s Zoe Harrison, Drouin navigated her team around the sun-soaked pitch against Canada with class and had a hand in several of her side’s five tries.
She was part of an outfit far too good on every level for Canada, who were disappointed themselves in pushing England all the way in their 26-19 semifinal defeat.
But it was France who reacted the best this week – they had all the answers and their notoriously tight defence – which let in three Black Ferns tries seven days ago – was back to its best today.
In scoring three first-half tries for a 22-0 halftime lead, they were in charge early and while Canada enjoyed a territorial advantage in the second half, they couldn’t make it count against the blue wall.
Not even the sinbinning of second-five Gabrielle Vernier for a high tackle with 11 minutes remaining could help Canada.
France wing Marine Menager scored a try in each half, with halfback Pauline Bourdon, who also made the scoresheet, a clever operator.
France 36 (Marine Menager 2, Madoussou Fall, Pauline Bourdon, Annaelee Deshaye tries; Caroline Drouin pen, 4 cons)
Canada 0
Halftime: 22-0
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