The Penn State Women have had a busy couple of days.  Having settled into the Loterot Farm we had a couple of days practice.  The farm was great for self-catering and the players looked after themselves for most of the time.  However we had a bakery order delivered each morning with croissant, chocolate crossant and fresh baguettes each day.  The first day everything was gone, but by day 4 the tour was being called the “Tour of Bread!”  On Tuesday night Bernie Cantorna, with some kitchen helpers made a great pasta dish with salad and some French bakery deserts.  Everyone has eaten well on this trip!

While many come to France for the food, we are here for the rugby.  After a couple of days of training on the farm, we headed to the local village to use the soccer pitch.  The practices were great, but everything closed for lunch!  Including the local grocery store.  However everyone got fed and we had another good practice in the afternoon.
On Wednesday we had our first 2 matches as we split the squad.  However before the games the team took a tour of some D-Day sights.  We went to the American Cemetery and the players  took time in the museum and others went down to Omaha beach.  The view from the Cemetery certainly gives you the sense of the challenge facing the US servicemen as they tried to take the beach.  Next the team stopped off and visited Pointe du Hoc, where 225 rangers stormed the cliffs and only 90 survived.  Seeing burnt wood in the ceiling of the bunkers made the visit very real.  We finished the tour with a stop at the German Cemetery.  It was a great day for reflection on the sacrifice many have made for our country.
After the visits the bus headed into Caen to drop off one team and then on to Rouen for the second match.  The Penn State team against Rouen played very well, but struggled to take opportunities to score.  Also struggling with the referee and a very different scrum cadence Rouen ran out winners 17-0.  At Caen we faced a top French women’s club with multiple former French internationals.  They played very fast and we struggled to keep pace.  However we worked our way into the game and rattled them with our physical defensive play.  We were able to have some nice attack, but the Caen defense was too strong and we lost 27-0.
On Thursday we took the long trip from the farm to Lille.  After settling in at the hotel we headed off to play Lille, the #1 French club.  Again the speed of the game was a challenge for us.  Lille had 4 French 7s players and a number who have represented France at multiple levels.  The defense played well, but the pace and width of the Lille team was impressive and we lost again 27-0.  The games have been great for us, because the level of play is something we will not see in the US.  
After a brief practice this morning the team had the day off and could visit Lille and take the short trip to Belgium if they wanted too.  Tomorrow we are off to Marcoussis, the French Rugby Center, just south of Paris for our last match before we head home on Sunday.
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