France lock Cameron Woki labelled his team’s showing as “unacceptable” after Les Bleus were penalised 15 times in their 27-12 victory against Uruguay at the World Cup on Thursday.
Fabien Galthie had made 12 changes to the team who beat New Zealand in the tournament’s opening match and the reserves failed to rise to the occasion, although the coach was satisfied with the win.
“Fifteen penalties is huge. It’s unacceptable at international level, we’re lucky to win after being penalised so many times,” said Woki, who started against the All Blacks in a match France finished with only four penalties against them, prevailing 27-13.
“We had worked hard (on discipline). We wanted to do something good and we just showed we were an ill-disciplined team. It’s very frustrating. We struggled in the scrums, we knew we were better but then we were not patient. We have to be patient.”
Galthie said it was the players who were frustrated as he showed some understanding, saying it was “tough for them, emotionally, because they wanted to do well”.
“Our plan is in motion, it’s a long journey and every game is a test that is important for our life as a squad,” he said after what was arguably one of the worst performances in his 41 tests in charge.
“You might say it’s disappointing but I’m happy with the victory. The players might be frustrated for various reasons but sometimes you can be surprised by your opponent when you don’t know how they have prepared. We did not play this game to make a statement.
“We were bothered by a team who implemented their strategy but in the end we won.”
France were hit by several injuries before the World Cup, while hooker Julien Marchand picked up a thigh injury last week against New Zealand.
At least this time they were spared, with Galthie saying he had no physical problems to report after the Uruguay game.
Number eight Anthony Jelonch, who made his comeback less than seven months after suffering a serious knee injury, played 50 minutes and made some impactful tackles.
“I need to feel that match atmosphere again,” said Jelonch. “I felt after the first contacts that I was fine, it put me right back into the right path. I’m now ready to play again.”
Meanwhile, Uruguay captain Andres Vilaseca hailed his team’s fighting spirit and believes his side will grow in confidence following their eye-catching performance.
France led by eight points going into the final 10 minutes as Uruguay pushed them all the way. With a better set-piece – both scrums and lineouts – they might have pulled off one of the great World Cup shocks. In the end their inaccuracy let France off the hook, but it was still a performance to savour for Vilaseca.
“I’m so proud of my team. I couldn’t ask for a better team to lead. That’s the truth,” he said. “Today, with 10 minutes left of the game, we were fighting against France, one of the best teams in the world, playing at their home ground. This is only the beginning for us.
“We fought for the whole game, it was key for us to keep pushing France and keep battling.”
Uruguay coach Esteban Meneses said the key was to build on this performance and not make it a one-off.
“We were able to show today that we are on the right track. The key element is the confidence of this group, who believe in themselves,” Meneses said.
“If we now manage to face more big teams, with the level which we have, we will continue to progress. When we saw the order of matches in the draw, our objective was to play on an equal footing with France. We showed we could do it. We now want to reproduce it.”
Uruguay scored the opening try of the game through wing Nicolas Freitas and added another in the second half via fullback Baltazar Amaya. They had numerous other entries into the France 22, but could not make them count.
France top Pool A with eight points from their two games while Uruguay have a second fixture against Italy in Nice next Wednesday. On this showing they will be confident of pulling off a win. New Zealand and Namibia are the other two teams in the group.
