Émilie Boulard (born 23 August 1999) is a French rugby union player who plays for the

France women's national rugby union team The France women's national rugby union team represents France in women's international rugby union. They played the first-ever women's rugby union test match against the Netherlands on 13 June 1982. They compete annually in the Women's Six ...

as a full-back. She won the International Rugby Players Women's Try of the Year at the 2021 World Rugby Awards. She represented France at the delayed

2021 Rugby World Cup The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the Rugby World Cup (women), women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally sche ...

, played in late 2022 after being delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Career

Boulard began her club rugby aged 18 playing for RC Chilly-Mazarin. She won her first senior cap in April 2021 against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in the

Women's Six Nations Championship The Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the Guinness Women's Six Nations for sponsorship purposes, is an international rugby union competition featuring six European women's national teams. It started in the 1995–96 season as the Home ...

. In doing so she became the first Chilly-Mazarin player ever to be selected to play for France. She subsequently won the International Rugby Players Women's Try of the Year at the 2021 World Rugby Awards, for a try she scored in her debut game against Wales. In September 2022 She was one of three players nominated for the award for the best French international for the 2021–2022 season, with the award ultimately going to

Laure Sansus Laure Bourdon Sansus (née Sansus, born 21 June 1994) is a former French rugby union player. Biography Originally from Toutens, she attended the rugby school of Labastide-Beauvoir. She then joined the Saint-Orens rugby féminin before being ...

. It was also announced Boulard would be joining

Blagnac SCR Blagnac Rugby, previously known as Blagnac Sporting Club Rugby and commonly known as Blagnac, is a French rugby union team that currently takes part in Nationale, the third-tier of the countries rugby system. The club is currently attempting to m ...

for the following season. She was named in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

's team for the delayed

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Emilie Boulard started as France became the first team to reach the semi-finals with a 39–3 win over Italy. Boulard described the 25–24 defeat to New Zealand in the semi-final as “the worst defeat of my career and the most painful… The days following this semi-final were very difficult. There were regrets and guilt. We redid all our actions, saying to ourselves "if I had done such and such a thing, we could have made it to the final... When we see the final and our performance in the match for third place, we say to ourselves that there was room to win this title and be world champions. We didn't do it on this World Cup, we will do it on the next ones.” In December 2022 Boulard made a try-scoring home debut for Blagnac in the

Élite 1 Élite 1 Féminine (since 2018, and previously Top 8 from 2015 to 2018) is the top national league for women's rugby union clubs in France. It was founded from the 1971–1972 season under the aegis of the French Women's Rugby Association before ...

competition against

FC Grenoble The Football Club de Grenoble Rugby (FCG) is a French rugby union club based in Grenoble and founded in 1892. FCG was champion of France in 1953–54 French Rugby Union Championship, 1954 and runner-up in 1992–93 French Rugby Union Championshi ...

at the Ernest-Argelès stadium. She was named in France's squad for the

2023 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2023 Women's Six Nations Championship, known as the TikTok Women's Six Nations for marketing purposes, was the 22nd series of the Women's Six Nations Championship, an annual women's rugby union competition featuring the national teams of Engl ...

. She was called up to the side for the

2025 Six Nations Championship The 2025 Men's Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Men's Six Nations for sponsorship reasons and branded as M6N) was a rugby union competition that took place from late January to mid-March 2025, featuring the men's national teams of E ...

on 7 March.

References

1999 births Living people French female rugby union players France women's international rugby union players 21st-century French sportswomen {{France-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub