France’s Sebastien Tillous-Borde, left, claims a ball that was dislodged from the grasp of France’s Mathieu Bastareaud, centre, by Ireland’s Sean O’Brien during the Rugby World Cup Pool D match between France and Ireland at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales
The headline on French sports daily L’Equipe summed up the doubt and confusion prompted by France’s 24-9 loss to Ireland in their pool decider at the Rugby World Cup.
“Dans Le Noir” (In The Dark) read the headline yesterday, and its online version pressed the point further with “Des Bleus Pas Au Niveau” (Blues Not Good Enough).
“It’s worrying,” lock Yoann Maestri said. “We were too weak in attack. We weren’t rigorous or pragmatic enough to cause them problems.”
Scrumhalf Sebastien Tillous-Borde put it more bluntly, saying “they smashed us,” when talking about Ireland’s tactical superiority in the rucks during Sunday’s match in Cardiff.
Clearly, the defeat to Ireland has rocked confidence, with the bad news that France faces New Zealand in the quarterfinals, rather than Argentina’s try-hungry Pumas, a so-called luxury afforded to the Irish for topping Pool D.
However, France has been in this position before — and worse.
Four years ago, it lost 19-14 to Tonga in its last pool match, drawing anger and derision back home, but still went on beat England and Wales to reach the final, where they narrowly lost to the All Blacks in Auckland.
Eight years ago as host, after losing its opening match to Argentina, France bounced back to reach the semis, beating the All Blacks in the last eight in Cardiff — which is where they meet on Saturday.
The French are often at their most dangerous following some navel-gazing self-inquisition, when they have nothing to lose and when everyone writes them off.
They relish it, even.
“The history of the World Cup says anything can happen. When you’re French it’s not good when you’re favorite,” coach Philippe Saint-Andre said defiantly on Monday. “We’re not eliminated, we’re not dead, we have to rise up and prepare mentally. Let’s turn the page. We’re focusing and getting ready for a great, great, great fight.”
Saint-Andre referred to the strength of the French domestic league — Toulon is three-time European champion — in a bid to highlight his players’ appetite for a high-pressure match.
“Our players are built for this,” he said.
Still, Saint-Andre has a huge task ahead if the French want to walk off the field with heads held high in Cardiff.
On current form, a repeat of the 20-18 win in 2007 looks even more of a long shot than it was back then, when France’s backline was still a force to be reckoned with.
There was little such flair on display against Ireland, because France has bruisers like Mathieu Bastareaud in midfield, not silky-handed runners like Yannick Jauzion.
“Some individual performances (against Ireland) were not at the level we expected, but it’s essentially a collective failure,” Saint-Andre said, sparing individual players from criticism, such as scrumhalf Morgan Parra, whose normally safe hands turned to jelly as he kept knocking on.
“We have to be active more than reactive and take the game into our own hands,” Saint-Andre added, highlighting where France must improve. “We must make more efforts on accelerations, rhythm changes when we shift from defense to attack, (and) we must be more accurate in the rucks.”
Meanwhile, he thinks Ireland flanker Sean O’Brien should be punished for allegedly punching veteran lock Pascal Pape in the stomach. The incident we nt unseen by match officials, there was no television referral, but it was caught on replays.
“It’s an assault after 23 seconds of play. I hope the disciplinary commission will sanction him,” Saint-Andre said. “I hope the TMO will do his job next game.”
Saint-Andre hopes to have flyhalf Frederic Michalak available for Saturday. He was replaced by Remi Tales in the 55th minute after hurting his hand.
“He has bruises on his right hand,” Saint-Andre said. “No fracture, so I think he’ll be operational for the end of the week.” Jerome Pugmire, Sports Writer, AP
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