France’s coach, Philippe Saint-André, has attacked the television match official system after the Ireland flanker Sean O’Brien’s early punch in Sunday’s match between the sides at the Millennium Stadium went unpunished.
O’Brien has been cited for the attack on the France lock Pascal Papé but Saint-André views the prospect of retrospective punishment as worthless for his side, who could have had a man advantage for at least 10 minutes had the incident been noticed and acted on.
“It was an assault 23 seconds into the game,” said Saint-André during his media debrief on Monday. “Why was it not acted on during the game? The players have an idea, so do I and I imagine you the media also have an idea.
“I hope that next time the TMO will really do his job. Since the beginning of the World Cup there has been a review of the images for all sorts of matters, not just tries, but in this case they did no such thing.”
The 24-9 defeat by Ireland means France face New Zealand in Saturday’s quarter-final at the Millennium Stadium, a repeat of 2007 when France, who were then the tournament hosts but found themselves playing in Wales having finished second in their pool, defied the odds and won.
“Anything can happen in the knock-out stage of a World Cup,” said Saint-André. “There is no time to dwell on the defeat to Ireland. This is a long, tough competition and our players are built for it through our domestic league. A quarter-final is different from a pool game and we know what it takes to win one.
“It will be a great Test match and we will be the underdogs having lost a pool match. That suits us and for some of our players it will be the game of our lives. We have to be focused and remind ourselves that we do not play the All Blacks but New Zealand. We both represent our countries.”
New Zealand defeated France in the 2011 final, as they did in 1987, but Les Bleus have prevailed on the two other occasions the sides have met at the knock-out stage, winning the 1999 semi-final at Twickenham and the 2007 quarter-final.
“I do not think what happened four or eight years ago will have a bearing on Saturday,” said Saint-André. “The teams are different. New Zealand will go into the game with confidence and we have to disrupt that, needing more anger and determination in the rucks than we had against Ireland. If we don’t rebel this week, we never will. We must prepare like a commando unit, not thinking but playing.”
