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PARIS - France captain Raphael Ibanez, who had dreamed his last international would be a World Cup final, will have to be content with a third-place playoff instead and has promised to give it his very best.
"I'm not leaving the sinking ship behind, that's not my style," the hooker told reporters today, three days before the tournament hosts play Argentina at the Parc des Princes in a match they would have been delighted to avoid.
"It's important for me to be there, with my mates around me on the pitch, until the very end," added the Wasps player.
A veteran of three World Cups, and of two semi-final defeats by England, in 2003 and last Sunday, the 34-year-old is one of several France players expected to retire after the tournament.
"This is not the right time to talk about that but it's true that there are a lot of symbols around that match," he said before leading his team, probably for the last time, against the Pumas on Saturday.
"It will be an emotional moment for several players," he added.
"Of course this is not the match we had prepared ourselves for. We had hoped to follow another route but here we are. It's difficult to accept for all of us but our motivation is still there. We want to sign off with our heads held high."
The final, the next day at Stade de France, is the match France wanted to be in but they will have to sit and watch while England and South Africa battle it out for the Webb Ellis Cup.
Ibanez has risked the wrath of his English clubmates at London Wasps by backing South Africa to lift the World Cup.
"Speaking from the heart I think South Africa has been up there, consistent and productive," said Ibanez.
"Their centres can turn the match in a second. And we lost against the English so that also comes into it a bit.
"I'll be going back to training with Wasps soon, and it will be hard to see my team-mates. I'll have to deal with it."
European champions Wasps boast six players in the England squad - former international skipper Lawrence Dallaglio, Simon Shaw, Josh Lewsey, Paul Sackey, Joe Worsley and current captain Phil Vickery.
- REUTERS, AFP
