News

France to host Wales in mid-season international match

Published by IntRL
14 Jun 2022

France will host Wales in a senior men's international match to be played in Albi on June 19th, 2022

This will be France's return to the field after playing against England in November. For Wales, this will be their first men's outing since their world cup qualification game against Ireland in November 2018.

This will be the 44th meeting of the two nations in a history that stretches back to their first meeting in 1935. The most recent results have seen wins for France and we have to go back to 2010 for Wales' last victory on French soil, a thrilling 12-11 victory.

Wales head coach John Kear is looking forward to the encounter: “I think that all nations need to take advantage of the free international weekend. As we’ve not played as a team for a number of years now, I see this as essential preparation for the World Cup against formidable opposition. The French game has had a renaissance recently – they’ve had success with Catalans and Toulouse and they’re hosting the 2025 World Cup.

“The game will be a tremendous challenge, it’s away from home and it’ll really test our metal to see what we need to work on to improve for the World Cup. We’ll have a good team out – as it’s a free weekend we can select from all who are available from Super League.”

France head coach Laurent Frayssinous said: “”This test match, which takes place during the weekend dedicated to the international window, will allow us to take an additional step in our preparation for the World Cup. We know what we need to improve and we have set targets to achieve in this test match against Wales.

“Wales is a proud nation, who always give their best on the pitch, and are very well organised and trained by John Kear, a former coach of the France team who always knows how to bring out the best in his players. They are made up of quality players from Super League like the wingers Regan Grace and Rhys Williams as well as Caleb Aekins, the former Canberra Raiders fullback in the NRL, to name a few.

“I can’t wait to meet our players and staff to prepare for this match, and to be confronted with this formidable Welsh team, and to continue to build the cohesion and the culture of our team.”

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