Kelly Arbey has made a habit of scoring against England. Having made her mark with a hat-trick of tries for France Under-20s against the Red Roses a year ago, the jet-heeled young wing added to her record with a spectacular solo try for the senior team at Twickenham in April, holding off two defenders from a standing start before speeding down the line.
The Red Roses responded within minutes but the effort was a catalyst for a late resurgence from Les Bleues in the Six Nations decider. “We were under pressure at that point of the game, so it helped us get back into the match and gave the team a boost,” says Arbey. “I’m very proud of it.”
Arbey’s stunning try helped stake her claim for a spot in the World Cup squad. “I hadn’t played against England at that level before, so this was something else entirely. The game was a lot quicker, the hits were harder, and to play against an England side who are that good gives you a boost.”
The 20-year-old echoes the French camp’s sense of optimism after pushing England all the way, despite ultimately falling to a 15th straight defeat: “We made an impression on the best team in the world, so it’s very positive.
“We showed that we can compete with them. The result hurt us, but it also makes us want to come back stronger.”
A native of the Tarn département, Arbey began playing rugby at her father’s former club Revel before joining Castres at an early age, training alongside her studies. Arbey, who also took up football, tennis and judo as a child, was inspired to start playing rugby by her older brother when she was four. “He had an important role in my life, and still does today. He stopped playing after three years, but I kept going.”
She made the short move south-west to sign for Toulouse, then the reigning national champions, in 2022. “That’s where it all began, where the gates to the French national teams were opened to me,” she says. “At Toulouse, our training sessions were during the day, the same as for the boys, and it was more professional.”
Arbey is one of the youngest players in France’s World Cup squad, which the head coaches Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz finalised this week. While she only graduated to the senior national team in March 2024, the following 12 months gave her international experience on several fronts as she crossed over to sevens. “I wasn’t doubting myself, I just took things as they came,” she says of a year which saw her juggle between two codes all the while continuing her physiotherapy studies.
“It was a bit unexpected, it happened after a few players were injured,” Arbey admits of her debut against Ireland in last year’s Six Nations. “I took it as a big opportunity, I still had to prove myself. I worked hard, both on and off the pitch, and I got the chance to play.” Her first try for the XV de France came just a week later, against Scotland.
Arbey’s inclusion in the sevens team after the Paris Olympics, which saw her take part in the Dubai, Cape Town and Perth tournaments, also proved pivotal for her progression. “It’s helped me a lot in terms of my reading of the game, especially of open spaces.
“Technically speaking, I was able to improve my passing and kicking games. It also helped with my cardio, since it’s a sport where everything is always at full speed.”
Playing several matches in quick succession over the course of a weekend also helped her to build up a capacity for recovery. “When you lose a match in Sevens, you have to be able to move on to the next one quickly. That mentality helps me a lot and I think it’s very positive – now I can say, OK, we’ve lost against England: where did it go wrong and what can we do to stop that from happening again?”
The decision to phase Arbey back into the senior team at the start of the year has more than paid off. “The coaching staff help me really well with that transition. Every time I go back to union from sevens, and vice-versa, I spend a month back in Toulouse getting accustomed to it again.”
The Stade Toulousain back also plans to remain involved in sevens for the foreseeable future: “Next year, I’ll be back with them to prepare for the next Olympics. It’s a longer-term objective, but it’s something to keep in mind, it’s in three years and we need to be ready for it.” For now, though, the focus is on beating England, in Saturday’s warm-up match in Mont-de-Marsan and in the World Cup.
“The goal was to leave our mark, to show that we’re here. Now that we’re in their heads, and they know who we are, we’ll have to keep pushing to get the win.” Like the rest of the France setup, however, Arbey is acutely aware of the aspects Les Bleues have needed to improve: “When you’re playing against a team of that level, you know that any error will cost you points, so you have to be disciplined. That’s something we need to work on.”
A semi-final against England next month could stand between France and a first-ever World Cup final. Arbey is not looking that far ahead, though: “We can’t start imagining ourselves in the final – we’ll have to win our other matches first to build up our confidence.
“In the group stage we’ll be starting off against Italy, who are a hard team to beat. We played well against them in the Six Nations, so we need to continue in that vein. We played against the South Africans in a training match as well, and we saw how combative they are. There won’t be any room for easing up. Personally, my aim is just to be well-prepared for the tournament and to earn some caps.”
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While she is more and more a key member of the France squad, Arbey insists she is still “building” herself, with the help of senior teammates such as Pauline Bourdon-Sansus and Charlotte Escudero. “They’re amazing, they really support me a lot. My status in the squad might have changed in the sense that I’m more integrated in the team, but I’m still just focused on improving my performances.”
In Mont-de-Marsan, the 20-year-old will earn her sixth senior cap against an increasingly familiar opponent. While some of the more seasoned Bleues have downplayed the importance of a potential win, Arbey has struck a more combative, confident tone: “We’re not talking about a warm-up match here. We have to leave our mark on them and give it our all.”
‘It’s far from a friendly’: England enter hostile territory
The Stade André-et-Guy-Boniface, named for the brothers who shone for Les Bleus and led resident club Stade Montois to their only national title in 1963, is gearing up to host its first senior international Test. With over 7,000 tickets sold (higher than the Pro D2 side’s average attendance), locals of the south-western town, deep in France’s rugby heartland, will be turning up in their numbers under scorching temperatures.
While England coach, John Mitchell, will be prioritising performance over result on the trip to the Landes, extending a 15-match winning streak over his team’s strongest continental challengers would be the ideal way to cap off the lengthy World Cup preparations. After a demolition of Spain last Saturday, in which the Red Roses’ points tally fell just shy of a century, the blockbuster clash with France will invariably make for a sterner test.
Mitchell has made 11 changes to the side that dismantled Las Leonas, with the absentees including -Marlie Packer through suspension and Emily -Scarratt due to a head injury. The -former captain is expected to return for the tournament opener against the US in Sunderland on 22 August, once her one-match ban for a -dismissal against Spain has been served.
The lineup is not short of star names, though, with reigning World player of the year, Ellie -Kildunne, -indisputably the face of the -tournament, making her return from injury. The full-back will be -taking to the field for the first time in four months, with Les Bleues -having been spared from her try-scoring exploits in the Six Nations decider in April. The -captain, Zoe Aldcroft, is also back in the team at flanker, while Zoe -Harrison will hope to strengthen her claim as England’s starting fly-half.
Scheduling just the one warm-up match, against the top-ranked side in the world no less, does seem to be an ambitious approach for France. “In our minds, both for the coaching staff and the players, we’re ready to evaluate -ourselves,” co-head coach Gaëlle Mignot said on Thursday. “There’s no better -opponent in terms of figuring out what we still need to work on.”
Despite the Red Roses’ dominance on the continental stage over the last few years, Le Crunch has lost none of its bite. “It’s far from a friendly,” France winger Marine Ménager said. “We’ve had a lot of defeats to -England, but if we want to progress, we’ll need to stop thinking about it all the time. Let’s see if we manage to compete with then.”
The squad picked to take to the field in Mont-de-Marsan resembles the one that nearly turned the match around at Twickenham in April, led by the co-captains Manaé Feleu and Ménager. Pauline Bourdon Sansus is serving two-match suspension for her critical comments on the -refereeing of the French domestic final that her Toulouse team lost to Stade Bordelais, with Alexandra Chambon stepping up in her place.
“We know that England began their training camp before us, they’re a well established team,” said flanker Teani Feleu earlier in the week. “It’ll also be a chance for them to see where they are with their preparations.”
If all goes to plan, the cross–Channel rivals will meet again in -Bristol in five weeks for a World Cup semi-final – a hurdle France have never cleared in eight attempts since 1991.
Breaking the losing streak against the cross-Channel rivals tonight would go a long way towards -making that -potential obstacle somewhat less daunting.
It is an entirely different kind of pressure for the Red Roses, who will look to cap off their golden age with a second World Cup title, this time on home soil.