Two suspended France forwards to miss Women’s Rugby World Cup semifinal

By Canadian Press on September 16, 2025.

LONDON (AP) — France captain Manaé Feleu and flanker Axelle Berthoumieu will miss the Women’s Rugby World Cup semifinal against England after failing to overturn their suspensions on Tuesday.

The double blow to France’s title hopes followed Berthoumieu’s nine-match ban for biting and Feleu’s three-match ban for a dangerous tackle in their 18-13 quarterfinal win over Ireland on Sunday in Exeter.

Both players appealed their suspensions, and Berthoumieu got hers reduced from 12 weeks to nine because of her admission, clean disciplinary record, remorse and public apology.

Feleu’s original ban was upheld.

The French forwards will miss the semifinal on Saturday in Bristol and the rest of the World Cup.

Feleu has been one of France’s best at her second World Cup. One of her suspended games will be cut if she completes World Rugby’s tackle school.

Berthoumieu admitted to biting the arm of Ireland’s Aoife Wafer in a ruck. The initial disciplinary committee said that from video footage “the player appeared to nudge Ireland No. 7’s forearm twice before she bit her, suggesting an intention to bite the Ireland player, and two opportunities to stop and not continue with a bite not taken by the player.”

While the incident was picked up on video review during the game, Berthoumieu was allowed to play on.

World Cup competition director Yvonne Nolan defended the Television Match Official’s failure to rule on the incident at the time.

“These types of incidents are notoriously difficult to deal with in game, so I recognize that people will review screenshots and so on and have their own views but I would caution that these incidents are really rare,” Nolan said Tuesday at the tournament’s weekly press conference.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a biting incident being dealt with in game. They almost always require additional information after the game, so that usually includes interviews with the player,” Nolan added. “It includes ruling out things like accidental contact. They also need to establish the force of the contact, so a detailed statement from the player is typically needed.”

The process also entails inspection of the wound.

“Sometimes even dental evidence becomes relevant,” Nolan said. “So I would just say a word of caution that jumping to a conclusion on removing a player … unless the evidence is really categoric in game it can be extremely challenging. And that’s what the citing process is for. The right process has been gone through.”

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

The Associated Press