Rugby World Cup: 'We never thought we'd make it this far'

Audrey Bordon and Jean-Baptiste Pozo will be cheering on their team from Queenstown. Photo / Greg Bowker

Nervous French fans hoped for Australia in the final as their semifinal victory placed them on rugby's largest stage.

Audrey Bordon, 24, and Jean-Baptiste Pozo, 25, from Clermont-Ferrand in central France, said they had to pinch themselves after Saturday's victory, because two weeks before, the French side had looked woeful.

"After [the loss to] Tonga, we never, ever thought we'd make it this far," Ms Bordon said. "But we played with more style against England ... so maybe, maybe we can keep going."

The pair have been travelling around New Zealand since February, and are now working in Queenstown, where they flew back to hours after the match. They doubted they could afford to return for the final on Sunday.

Mr Pozo, an arborist, said the price of a flight and a semifinal ticket was about two weeks' work: "I cannot cut down enough trees to pay for another ticket."

The beret- and rooster-capped French supporters were outsung by the Welsh at Eden Park as many of the neutral fans lent their voices to the unfortunate Dragons side.

With half an hour remaining in the match, tears welled in one young Welsh woman's eyes as she sensed her team's run might be over. A man in a Welsh cape held his elderly mother's hand. Other supporters clung white-knuckled to the seats in front of them, some unable to watch the final 50m penalty attempt that slipped centimetres under the crossbar.

Afterwards "Allez les Bleus" rang out into the night.