Le XV de France has made it! Just!
How will they cope in the final against New Zealand?
Earlier on in the competition when the two teams were about to play each other, a French commentator on France Inter ( a French radio station) said:
La marée noire risque de submerger les Bleus! ( The black tide may submerge the Bleus)
And the same radio was saying the same thing today.
So: Croisons les doigts! ( Fingers crossed! or Touchons du bois! ( Touch wood!)
Anyway, the players will all look smart at the beginning of the match, wearing their shirt ( leur maillot) with the cockerel ( le coq) on it.
Why le coq? As we all know the Romans invaded France and in Latin, the word Gaulois ( the Gaul) and the word coq were both translated by gallus.
Then, in the middle ages, ennemis of the French would compared them as cockerels as they thought that the French were as vain and as proud as the cockerel. Well, the French decided that le coq was a good symbol for a proud nation and decided to use it.
Nowadays, it is the logo on the rugby shirts of La Fédération Française de Rugby!
Alliance Française de Bristol and Bath with its French tutors do not just teach about rugby:
If you wish to take French lessons as a beginner or join an intermediate or advanced French class or learn French through drama or cookery workshops, go to our website: For more info…