No finals for the Blues who beat Australia in Singapore

They put their heart and energy into it, but the French lost again against Australia. Narrowly, as is often the case, the 2016 Olympic champions' jubilation at the final whistle was experienced as a release, proving just how much they had to draw on their reserves to overcome their toughest opponents.

France opened the scoring in the second minute with a try by Montserrat Amedey, which was caught three minutes later by Madison Levy (7-7). Both teams went into the break level with Camille Grassino caught a meter from the line. After the restart, Australia took the lead with Faith Nathan's unconverted try, but France were back on level terms two minutes later with a corner effort from Lou Noel Riviere thanks to intense defensive pressure from the Blues (12-12). Recover the ball.

But after a last-minute and long run, Nathan escaped Australia at the second attempt to link up with New Zealand in the final, beating next-placed Fiji 33-22 for the Blues to claim third place (Kick – 10:38am. France men's 7th place qualifier 9am: 06 against USA.