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PARIS - France were jeered out of their own World Cup after a nervous and clumsy 34-10 defeat by Argentina in Saturday's third-place playoff at the Parc des Princes.
The tournament hosts, who had lost to the Pumas in the opening match of the tournament, tried to run the ball after being criticised for not doing so in their semifinal elimination by England, but were clinically countered by their opponents.
The crowd's reaction was clearly hostile after France were brushed aside.
"You get what you deserve in life and we were just not good enough," said flanker Yannick Nyanga. "We will have to draw the lessons from what happened in this tournament."
France, who thrilled their fans with a quarterfinal win over favourites New Zealand but failed to back up that performance, were never their flamboyant selves in the campaign, relying on ruthless forwards and a tight defence rather than on their trademark flair.
"Of course there will be a lot of criticism, that's normal, but I have to say the players fought really hard and gave it their very best," said captain Raphael Ibanez, one of several France players now expected to retire from international rugby.
Twice World Cup finalists, France had entered the competition with high expectations of finally securing a first global triumph.
"This is certainly not the way we wanted to leave the tournament," said Ibanez, who lost his cool and was sin-binned late in the first half.
He did not apologise.
"When the guy's offside five times, what should you do, kiss him on the cheek?" he asked in thinly-veiled criticism of referee Paul Honiss.
France coach Bernard Laporte, who ends an eight-year tenure at the helm of the team and will now become a junior minister for sport, refused to blame the refereeing.
"That would be too easy," he said. "That's not what made us lose tonight.
"Argentina beat us twice. That means they're better than we are."
- REUTERS
