A new regime awaits France after their inglorious World Cup demise yet, while coaching personnel will change, stark warnings about their international status were fired as Les Bleus headed home.
The fallout from any major tournament exit is usually most visceral in the immediate aftermath, yet this 62-13 loss was a defeat like no other. Against their old foes, France were unable to muster the magic of yesteryear and succumbed to a harrowing defeat against a New Zealand side in unstoppable form.
It was to be Philippe Saint-André’s last game and, soon after the curtain had drawn on their World Cup campaign, Frédéric Michalak announced his retirement from international rugby, the 33-year-old fly-half saying: “It’s a sad end but my body can’t respond any more.”
Michalak’s charged-down kick – during which he sustained the injury that forced his withdrawal – was the start of France’s descent into chaos in Cardiff. However, theirs was a long-term descent under Saint-André rather than an anomalous performance, as the team have sunk to also-ran status in recent years.
France won only eight out of 20 Six Nations matches with Saint-André in charge, finishing fourth in the table on three occasions and bottom in 2013. However, while the outgoing coach accepted responsibility for the display, he called for a change in the structure of the country’s domestic game to save their international future.
“We need to realise at a high level that French rugby needs to bring something different to its organisation,” he said. “It’s not my job to tell them [the French Rugby Federation] what to do; that is their job. But we are in the same stage as English soccer. Our players play 40 games a year but New Zealand players play 25 games a year. That’s not rugby – we are in a box.
“I’ve had a very exciting four years. It has been unbelievable. It is disappointing but when you’ve lost by 60 points in a quarter-final all you can say is congratulations to New Zealand. They deserve it. I have a lot of young players and Morgan Parra and Frédéric Michalak were the only backs who had played in the World Cup before. They learn a lot about the World Cup and that is important for the future of the French team.”
Saint-André’s comparison with football is perhaps a little stretched, given that England’s team have won each qualifying match en route to next year’s European Championship. Yet there are parallels between the Premier League and the Top 14. The same arguments are made in both cases, that huge sums splurged on foreign players harm the development of domestic young talent and hamper the pathway to the top. Saint-André’s point about the number of games in the Top 14 was echoed by the lock Pascal Papé, who said the incoming coach, Guy Novès, would face the same difficulties as Saint-André unless structures were altered.
“We believed we could do it with our preparation, that we would be able to make up for the lost time,” said Papé, who has also stepped down from international duty. “But I think the problem is much deeper. We’re in a system with a championship where you have to play 40 games a year. What happened tonight shows that when you play against a team whose players have played 20 games in the year you can’t compete.
“The national team comes last. It is time that everyone in French rugby sit around a table and make the France team a priority. If this does not happen the next coach will face the same problems.”
The All Blacks coach, Steve Hansen, and his predecessor, Graham Henry, have also questioned the state of the French professional game, including the coaching and overreliance on physicality. The French press were also scathing in their reaction, describing the defeat as a “disaster” and “humiliation”.
Undoubtedly, the only way is up for Novès, who will have to manage the gap between France’s domestic and international prowess.
