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PARIS - Heartbroken French skipper Raphael Ibanez mourned the death of his team's World Cup dream on Sunday (NZ time) after the 14-9 semifinal defeat against old rivals England.
The French had led 9-8 and were eyeing the final before Jonny Wilkinson popped up to kick a penalty goal and a late drop goal to send the defending champions into a title showdown against either South Africa or Argentina.
"We always believed in our chances despite the bad start we had to the tournament," said Ibanez whose side lost the opening game 17-12 to Argentina five weeks ago.
"We wanted the dream to go on but we also knew that this would be a tight match. I'm sick to the stomach as are all my teammates, but that's sport.
"We had what it took - the desire, the spirit - but we were just lacking in the finish. We won't be champions and that's very hard for us."
French lock Fabien Pelous paid tribute to England.
"We were missing a little of the punch we had last week (France beat the All Blacks in the quarter-finals)," said Pelous.
"But the English defence performed really well. It's sad but we prepared well. Maybe we were missing some of the intensity of last week."
France coach Bernard Laporte said the crucial moment of the game was in the 68th minute.
"Joe Worsley tackled Vincent Clerc who was on a break. That was the turning point. If we had scored, the game would have been over and we would be in the final," said Laporte.
"We're obviously very disappointed because our aim was to win the match, go to final and win the final, but we're stopping.
"England are a strong team and we had expected this type of match," he said, ruing his side's lack of "occupation of territory" in a match between "two pretty equal teams".
"We found it difficult to get back into the match. We didn't score enough, and we weren't in their 22 metre area enough."
Laporte, who now leaves his job to become a junior sport minister in the French government, congratulated his players for the part they played in a gritty game.
"They wanted to go for it and put their heart and soul into it. They showed we are a great rugby nation. They can hold their heads up high."
Ibanez, who plays his club rugby in England for Wasps, praised Wilkinson for the nerve he showed in the nail-biting finish.
"We have to recognise the cool of Wilkinson," said the hooker. "In important moments for England, he's a great player.
"We wish them good luck for the final."
Ibanez said Laporte's halftime talk had centred around upping the speed that France took into the game.
"The goal was to up the tempo," he said. "We realised we had to up that level of intensity.
"We got some opportunities but didn't seize them. England deserved to win because they used more opportunities than us.
"We applied ourselves, but we didn't play maybe as well as we could, and maybe we respected the rules a bit too much at times."
Laporte said that France's charge into the semifinal despite their opening slip-up against Argentina and after their victory over New Zealand did not rank as a failure.
"We did pretty well considering the path we took to the semifinal. We wanted to be champions but we failed, but we cannot say it was a wasted effort, we were only four or five points from the final. It was not a bad World Cup."
- AFP
