Or maybe it's the fact that she is surrounded by teammates she trusts implicitly that means the 22-year-old is remarkably relaxed days out from the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam decider.
Les Bleues face England at the Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux, with both teams unbeaten. John Mitchell’s Red Roses hold a slight advantage and top the standings on 20 points, one more than France, having claimed a four-try bonus in all four of their matches.
France have claimed three bonus points, with only Scotland stopping them from scoring four tries. Nonetheless, they will have a partisan crowd on their side, with 22,000 tickets sold at the start of the week for a stadium that holds just over 34,000.
“I want to take responsibility and perform to the level needed, whether it’s a conversion, a penalty, I am 100 percent confident in each match,” Queyroi said. “Every decision I make this weekend will be super important. It is really important that I perform on the day.
“There is a lot of pressure on us, and we feel our own internal stress, but we are good at dealing with nerves and we rarely get nervous. We know it will be the same this weekend. We will work on it in the build-up to the match, so we can manage the high-pressure moments and stay calm.
“We know that the public is behind us, that they are pushing us, and they are helping us. So, it's a bit easier to prepare than if we were playing in England. It makes me happy to see that people are excited by the match, that there is going to be a lot of people there, that we are going to be well supported.
“It makes us feel good. It shows that female rugby is evolving in France and that more and more people are watching it.”
SIX-YEAR ITCH
France have not won the Championship since 2018, when they also won the Grand Slam.
An 18-17 victory over England in round four at the Stade des Alpes in Grenoble gave them the edge, and they wrapped up the title with a 38-3 victory over Wales to complete the Grand Chelem.
Since then though the victors have been exclusively white-shirted. In 2023 with nearly 60,000 at Twickenham for the title decider England raced into a 33-0 half-time lead. France responded with 33 points of their own after the break, but Lark Davies’ try made the difference.
This year, Gaëlle Mignot and David Ortiz’s team started with a win over Ireland, saw off Scotland and Italy, and then left Cardiff Arms Park with a 40-0 victory to set up a showdown in French wine country.
“Of course we’ve been waiting for the last match, but we had to do everything right before then,” Queyroi said. “We said we wanted to go step by step and that is what we have done.
“Now we have to be competitive in this match if we want to win the Grand Slam. The collisions are going to be huge. We know that they are strong in the middle of the pitch, but we also have our strengths.
“We are focused on the work we’ve done since the Championship started. We have grown and grown each week and are capable of finding solutions.”
SEASON TO REMEMBER
So far this Championship, Queyroi has scored 32 points, all from the tee, with 13 conversions and two penalties.
It is an impressive haul considering she is playing in her first season as first choice in the number 10 shirt.
Queyroi, who plays for Blagnac Rugby Féminin, came through the Toulouse youth system, and made her debut against Italy in September 2022. While she made her full debut at fly-half a week later, and featured at the 2022 Rugby World Cup, she missed all the 2023 Championship, with Carla Arbez and Jessy Tremouliere sharing the role.
However, she was made first-choice fly-half for WXV1 at the end of 2023 and hasn’t looked back since. While she normally likes to keep the ball in hand to get her backline moving, she has shown - most notably when setting up Melissande Llorens for her try against Italy - that she is happy to use her boot to pick out players in space when the chance arises.
Now, she is set to face her toughest test yet, with two England players standing out as opponents they must stop.
“The collisions are going to be even more powerful,” she said. “We know that they are very strong in the centre of the pitch and do the simple things well, but we have our strengths, which are to move the ball, get outside them and keep the ball in our hands.
“We’ve seen Ellie Kildunne win three Player of the Match awards, and Marlie Packer loves the physical side. We know that if she wins her duels, she can really hurt us, but we are ready for that.
“We know that they can hurt us, but it's up to us to counter that, and to be ready to defend.”
