France national rugby league team

France

Team information
Nicknames	Les Bleus Les Tricolores The Chanticleers (for the Anglophone media)
Governing body	Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII
Region	Europe
Head coach	Laurent Frayssinous
Captain	Benjamin Garcia
Most caps	Puig Aubert (46)
Top try-scorer	Raymond Contrastin (25)
Top point-scorer	Puig Aubert (361)
IRL ranking	8th
Uniforms
First colours
Team results
First international
England 32–21 France  (Paris, France; 15 April 1934)
Biggest win
Serbia 0–120 France  (Beirut, Lebanon; 22 October 2003)
Biggest defeat
England 84–4 France  (Leigh, England; 24 October 2015)
World Cup
Appearances	16 (first time in 1954)
Best result	Runners-up (1954; 1968)

The France national rugby league team represents France in international rugby league matches. They are referred to as les Chanticleers or less commonly as les Tricolores. The team is run under the auspices of the Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII.

The French rugby league team first played in 1934 on a tour of England. They have taken part in all World Cups, 16 in total, with the first being held in 1954 in France. They have never won the title but finished runners-up in both 1954 and 1968. These are often considered the glory years of French rugby league as from the 1950s to the 1970s the team were strong and regularly beat Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain. Since those days, les Chanticleers have not done as well with their nadir occurring at the 1995 World Cup when they failed to win a single match.

In 2006, the Perpignan based team Catalans Dragons entered Super League, and have since produced a number of top-class French players. Recent successes of the French national team include reaching the quarter-finals of the 2000 and 2013 Rugby League World Cups, and participating in the 2009 Rugby League Four Nations. At the most recent World Cup in 2022, France failed to qualify for the quarter-finals after being eliminated at the group stage.

Currently, France are ranked eighth in the world. In Europe alone they are ranked second, ahead of Lebanon, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy, but behind their main rival, England.