France coach Bernard Laporte was full of praise for his young team despite their comprehensive 42-11 loss to New Zealand in the first Test at Eden Park on Saturday.
The odds were heavily stacked against the French after they had to field an under-strength team because most of their senior players stayed home to play for their clubs.
They only arrived in New Zealand four days before the match and started the game with six debutants but were far from disgraced even though they never threatened to win.
”They were very courageous. OK, it was 42-11 but everybody played very well,” Laporte told a news conference.
Starved of possession and forced to defend for the most of the game, France conceded five tries but picked up a consolation try late in the second half by new winger Jean-Francois Coux.
The All Blacks squandered a string of other tryscoring chances with sloppy handling but Laporte said the home team had also been given the benefit of the doubt with two tries that followed seemingly blatant knock-ons.
”There’s no doubt the All Blacks were far superior but we didn’t understand some of the referee rulings,” he said.
New Zealand are the early favourites to win this year’s World Cup but Laporte issued a sobering warning to All Blacks supporters, who have been waiting 20 years for their second title after winning the inaugural tournament in 1987.
New Zealand demolished France 54-7 in Wellington in June 1999 but the French famously turned the result around to beat the All Blacks 43-31 in the World Cup semifinals in London later that same year in one of the most remarkable matches ever played.
”It’s quite obvious that they are favourites for the World Cup, they have the best players in many positions,” Laporte said.
”But it doesn’t mean that if you start the grand prix in pole position that you are going to win the grand prix.” – Reuters