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MARCOUSSIS - France rugby captain Raphael Ibanez emerged after three days of soul searching today to express confidence in the host's ability to rebound from Saturday's (NZ time) 17-12 defeat by Argentina.
"The blow knocked all of us out," he told a news conference at the team's training camp. "There was, however, no question of staying in our bedrooms. Some people say it's not a good thing to analyse an event in the midst of it all so I decided to sidestep this theory.
"We had a players' meeting during the night after the game. Then, I went to see the coaches and we had a lot more meetings among the players."
France are now in danger of elimination from Pool D, which also includes Ireland.
They have to win their last three games and collect all the bonus points available against the Irish, Nambia and Georgia to avoid an early exit or a quarterfinal against the All Blacks in Cardiff.
The French captain, who played his 93rd test on Saturday to become the most capped hooker in rugby history, refused to go into the details of the three-days of brainstorming.
"We blew it all down the line and we know it. That's enough to say. We are all responsible including myself because I didn't anticipate what happened and including the coach," he said.
"(Coach) Bernard Laporte is as hurt as we are. He also spent the weekend trying to answer the questions we can't escape. We need his leadership."
Ibanez said he had the feeling the best solution was "to keep it simple".
"Our squad is still a quality squad. I wanted to find out if the commitment of the players and coaches was still there. I had the answers and I'm sure we will bounce back", he added.
"I'm not worrying too much about the next game. We know what we have to do, we have three games to play, we are not any more in a position to calculate. We have to free ourselves and rediscover the pleasure of being on the pitch."
France play their second game against Namibia next Monday in Toulouse. They will face Ireland the following Friday at the Stade de France and end the group phase against Georgia in Marseille.
- REUTERS
