Thursday 16 November 2017

World Cup 2017: France

Two French players closing a gap against England

It was a Frenchman - Paul Barrière - that organised the RL WC's first tournament and the trophy is now named after him. France have been to all 15 WCs, but have struggled to keep pace with the top teams.

Report card: Too much history to discuss here. They did make two finals, 1954 and 1968 but have not won a tournament. In 2000 the made the quarter finals, losing to NZ and 2013 they got past the group stage again but lost to England.

In 2017, in a tough group they had to beat Lebanon but narrowly lost 29-18. Australia won against the Tri Colors 52-6 and England also 34-6. The team played with heart and have potential but aren't quite where they need to be to have a stronger impact in a WC.

In the charts below, they has wins, draws and losses for each tournament. The points differential at the bottom of each year is for group games only, not finals matches.For more on WC history, try this article which can be quickly accessed by clicking here.


54 57 60 68 70 72 75 77

W D L W D L W D L W D L W D L W D L W D L W D L

2 1 1 1
2

3 2
2 1
2 1
2 1 1 6

3

+19 -31 -36 -23 -5 -20 -164 -39



88 92 95 00 08 13 17


W D L W D L W D L W D L W D L W D L W D L


1 1 3 2
6

2 2
2 1
2 1
3

3


-105 -167 -68 +67 -18 -63 -87

Final ranking for the tournament: 9th to 11th (out of 14 teams).
Picture source: RLEF.

Other teams ranked at the 2017 WC. Click on the nation to go to that article.

12th - 14th: ScotlandWalesUSA.
9th - 11th: FranceItalySamoa.
5th - 8th: IrelandLebanonNew ZealandPNG.
1st - 4th: AustraliaEnglandFijiTonga.

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