KEY POINTS:
CARDIFF - France players barely had time to celebrate their extraordinary 20-18 win over favourites New Zealand before coach Bernard Laporte asked them to turn their minds to Saturday's World Cup semi-final against England.
"The players defeated New Zealand who are the best team in the world with
a lot of talent, generosity and solidarity and I'm proud of what they did," Laporte told a news conference in Cardiff on Sunday.
"They are responsible guys, they know it was only a quarter-final and that we now have to turn our minds to the semi-final, so we'll have a video session at six o'clock to start working on the England game."
Going back to the win over the All Blacks, Laporte said it came through discipline, great defence and a lot of passion.
"We noticed that, in our two November tests, we let New Zealand gain territorial advantage and use our errors under pressure to score," he said.
"We decided to push them back as deep as possible into their own territory, to do our best to keep the score low for as long possible and then to take our chance. All the players stuck to the game plan and it worked."
Relying on a kicking game, the French, whose last win over New Zealand dated back to 2000 and who had been crushed 47-3 last November in Lyon, limited their deficit to 13-3 at half-time.
After centre Luke McAlister was sent to the sin-bin for obstruction, Laporte gave an injection of speed and power to the team when he sent first five-eighths Frederic Michalak, lock Sebastien Chabal and hooker Dimitri Szarzewski into the battle.
The French abandoned the kicking game and went back to their typical style of play, running and passing the ball at speed.
They sealed victory when Michalak burst through the centre, glanced to the left and right and off-loaded to Yannick Jauzion for an easy try.
"We played well tactically but make no mistake, tactics are nothing if you don't have the right players. Rugby is and will always be a matter of commitment, it would be foolish to say otherwise," Laporte said.
"Every game is different from the previous one. Every game is a new story. The semi-final will have nothing to do with the quarter-final, it will have nothing to do with our wins over England in the August warm-up games and nothing to do with our defeat by England in the 2003 semi-final."
The French coach said he expected a tough game.
"England are a great team. You don't beat Australia in a World Cup quarter-final if you are not a great team," he said.
"They went through a difficult time but we knew all the time they would be back eager to defend their title and here they are."
- REUTERS