Former Canada rugby coach Francois Ratier named coach of the French women’s team

Francois Ratier, who led the Canadian women to the Rugby World Cup final in 2014, has been named coach of the French women’s team.

The French Rugby Federation (FFR) said Ratier’s appointment is effective as of January. His first game in charge of the fourth-ranked French women will be their April 11 Six Nations Championship home opener against Italy.

Ratier, who coached the Canadian women from 2013 to 2017, has served as coach of Bordeaux in the French women’s league most recently.

Born and raised in La Rochefoucauld, a small town in southwest France where his father was a mason and his mother a factory worker, Ratier played his club rugby on the wing for SC Angoulême. When injuries cut his career short, he turned to coaching and looked for a fresh start.

“Travelling was not in my DNA (growing up),” he said in 2017. “But I wanted to see the world.”

He knew rugby but not English at the time, so he turned to Quebec and, in 2003, offered his services for free.

He bought a plane ticket for Montreal, where he would later meet his future wife. He coached with Rugby Club de Montreal, before moving to McGill, Concordia and the Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue club and also served as head coach of Quebec’s provincial program.

Ratier worked with Canada’s under-17 side from 2008 to 2012 before taking over the senior women in May 2013.

The Canadian women made it to the championship game at the 2014 World Cup, losing 21-9 to England after defeating France 18-16 in the semifinal. He also served as interim head coach of the Canadian men in 2016, helping them to a second-place finish at the Americas Rugby Championship after New Zealand’s Kieran Crowley resigned.

Ratier was in charge when the Canadian women last beat England — 52-17 in July 2016. The top-ranked Red Roses have won all 14 meetings with Canada since then, including a 33-13 victory in the Sept. 27 World Cup final.

Ratier and the Canadian women finished fifth at the 2017 World Cup.

Ratier stepped down as coach of the Canadian women to become head coach of Rugby Canada’s academy in Langford, B.C., while also helping coach the national senior men’s centralized program. Ratier left seven months later to become Rugby Quebec’s director general and technical director.

In 2021, Ratier joined Major League Rugby’s Toronto Arrows as a consultant.

The French women, led by co-coaches Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz, finished fourth at this year’s World Cup, losing 42-26 to New Zealand’s Black Ferns in the third-place game.

It marked France’s lowest finish at the tournament since placing fourth in 2010, with three straight third-place finishes — including a 36-0 win over Canada in the third-place game at the 2021 tournament (played in 2022) — before this year.

The FFR said it started looking in October for a new coach to start preparations for the 2029 World Cup.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2025