FRANCE: RUGBY - French rue loss to England in Rugby World Cup semi-final

France head coach Bernard Laporte conceded on Sunday (October 14) that his team had difficulty getting a rhythm into their world cup semi-final against England on Saturday, which the French lost 14-9. "It's true that it was difficult for us to put some rhythm into the game simply because they controlled us up front and slowed down our ball," Laporte told reporters during a news conference in Paris. "They succeeded in breaking up our maul and slowing it down. They also slowed down our balls which stopped us from getting into a rhythm and build up speed in our game play," said the coach. Captain Raphael Ibanez acknowledged that after a defeat like the one at the Stade de France the previous night, "there are always a lot of mixed feelings of sadness, anger and frustration which we must overcome as quickly as possible because the French team has another match coming up in this tournament." France will play the loser of Sunday evening's semi-final between Argentina or South Africa in Friday's play-off. French lock and sometime captain Fabien Pelous told the news conference: "It's the only title missing in my career. I will certainly have a bitter taste in my mouth now for the rest of my life because I've always believed that I could have achieved it, because this year, we could have done it."

ITN Source | October 15, 2007

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