France arrived at Wales’s training base in the Vale of Glamorgan to prepare for their Pool D decider against Ireland in time to watch England being thrown out of the tournament but there was no celebrating.
“As a rugby player you are pleased that one of your rivals in the tournament has been knocked out but as a person you feel compassion for your fellow players,” said the centre Mathieu Bastareaud.
His view was echoed by Benjamin Kayser, who spent two years of his career at Leicester and was on the standby list in the 2007 World Cup when France, after losing the opening match of the tournament to Argentina in Paris, faced Ireland knowing defeat would mean they became the first hosts to be knocked out at the group stage.
“The first thing that has to be said is that England’s was a ridiculously hard pool,” the France hooker said. “It is a surprise they will not be in the quarter-finals but that would have been the case had it been Australia or Wales; one massive nation was always going to be leaving early.
“England’s task now is to prepare for their final game against Uruguay and then assess things with cool heads before making decisions. They have played at a very high level in the last few years and they are a side I have a lot of respect for. It is a big blow for them but they are still a good team.”
While England have won 16 matches and lost four in the four Six Nations championships held since the last World Cup, France’s record is less impressive, eight victories, 10 defeats and two draws. They started the tournament expecting to finish second in their group behind Ireland but a run of five successive victories, their best in the Philippe Saint-André era, has made the match with Ireland, who stuttered to victory over Italy on Sunday, far from a foregone conclusion.
“We are happy with the results we have been having rather than the way we have been playing,” Kayser said. “What we have been doing is getting the job done and we have put ourselves in a position to win the group. We have taken everything game by game in this tournament, starting with Italy, knowing that the most important thing is to get the points.”
France were the beaten finalists in 2011, losing to New Zealand by a point in Auckland, and they have come to be seen as a team who focus for a World Cup having been distracted in between. “That is not the case,” Kayser said. “Our record in the last few Six Nations was not down to design. We have been a team of ups and downs, able to beat the likes of Australia and England but unable to put a consistent run of victories together.
“The difference with a World Cup is that we have a few months together as a squad before it starts and that helps when it comes to consistency. So far we have not played a lot because of the importance of results but flair is in the DNA of French players. Detail is important in international rugby and we have shown that we are organised as a team. We are now ready to play expansive rugby and that is an area where we can have an advantage over Ireland.”
