France is the largest West European nation with a population of more than 60 million people and land mass of over half a million square kilometres. The country has 22 regions and also boasts the Alps and the Pyrenées.
Rugby was introduced to the Le Havre region of France by English merchants in 1872 and spread through the country with them, but despite this arrival in the north of the country the game would become more established and popular in the south.
The majority of the leading clubs, such as Toulouse and Perpignan who contested the European Cup final earlier this year, are based in the south of a country that boasts some 1,700 clubs with 90,000 seniors and around 120,000 juniors playing the game.
France staged its first national championship in 1892 with entry into an expanded Five Nations tournament coming in 1910, four years after les Blues or les Tricolores, as the national side are known, lost their first ever Test 38-8 to New Zealand in the capital Paris.
The Fédération Française De Rugby was formed 13 years after this Test debut and France became members of the International Rugby Board in 1978.