Defeat by Tonga leaves France in the Rugby World Cup last eight but with few expecting them to go any further
For the third World Cup in a row, France now find England in their path after they stumbled into the quarter-finals with an embarrassing defeat by Tonga which leaves Marc Li�vremont's team, in a mess both on and off the field.
Tonga went into their last pool game needing to score four tries and win by more than seven points and might have done it to cause an even bigger shock. Instead they simply concentrated on the win, their forwards taunting France when victory became certain.
Not even a try from Vincent Clerc in the final minute could take the gloss off their day and the 19-14 victory, even though it did give France a face-saving bonus point. For much of the previous 80 minutes France were a mess, unable to get their hands on the ball for long periods and clumsy with it when they did. Had Tonga's fly-half Kurt Morath been more accurate with his boot the gap could have been 12 points wider.
However, after losing to England at Sydney in 2003 and Paris in 2007, French hopes of winning the quarter-final in Auckland next Saturday are as slim as their captain, Thierry Dusautoir, suggested at the final whistle. "We made so many mistakes. Like this we don't have any chance of the semi-finals," he said.
If Dusautoir proves correct it will mean that the Li�vremont era will end as one of the sadder four years in French rugby history. Right up to the eve of the match, the coach, who was brought in after the 2007 exit, was sending out so many mixed messages that his players had every right to be confused about his confidence in them.
Even with the odds stacked in their favour, Li�vremont said he was so worried he had stomach ache. "The risk is that we lose the game and pack our bags on Sunday morning and go home," he said. "It gives me stomach ache to think that is possible, but that's the way it is."
However, the past three weeks out here have merely reflected the past three years in the French camp, when Li�vremont went from zero to hero and back again ? the "mad professor" turning a grand slam-winning side into a squad bitterly ill at ease with itself.
This season's Six Nations ended in acrimony, Li�vremont accusing players of cowardice. The campaign to retain the title started well enough with wins against Scotland in Paris and Ireland in Dublin, but the trip to Twickenham proved too much for Les Bleus, who then lost in Rome ? the first time in championship competition that France had lost to Italy.
Li�vremont went into meltdown: "They betrayed us, they have betrayed me and they have betrayed the French national team shirt."
Six were dropped from the French squad immediately and amid the chaos the president of the French federation, Pierre Camou, had to steady the ship by saying there was no way that Li�vremont would be fired before the World Cup. Instead his federation did the next worst thing.
Less than a month before this tournament began, Li�vremont's successor was announced as Philippe Saint-Andr�, currently of Toulon and once of Gloucester and Sale. It did nothing to lessen the lame duck nature of the coach's final few weeks and the string finally snapped after the tame performance against the All Blacks a week ago. Li�vremont had gambled on the fitness of favoured players such as Aur�lien Rougerie, Fabien Barcella and Maxime Mermoz when he selected his World Cup squad, but he stacked the odds far too high when he dropped his only recognised fly-half, Fran�ois Trinh?Duc and handed the shirt to Morgan Parra instead.
In attack it may not matter much whether the man playing fly-half is a scrum-half or a full-back, but defence is another matter and France have leaked tries. The inquest proved explosive.
Li�vremont rounded on the press. "Tu m'emmerdes avec ta question [Your question bores me stiff]," the coach said and two days later the lock Lionel Nallet was given centre stage to deny reports of an "uprising" in the French camp. "I have been hearing stories, rumours about little uprisings by the players and a lot of nonsense like that," said Nallet, captain under Li�vremont from January 2008 until March 2009.
Then straining belief a little too far he added: "At the moment there is a very good atmosphere in our squad and we are all united with each other."
Following hard on the heels of public dressing downs for players including Dimitri Yachvili, Trinh-Duc and Imanol Harinordoquy and fallings out with Louis Picamoles and Damien Traille, Nallet's assurances took a lot of swallowing even before Trinh-Duc went public expressing his utter confusion when, ahead of the Tonga match, he was named on the bench for the second Saturday running.
"I'm trying to put things in perspective," said the 24-year-old who has been capped 32 times by Li�vremont. His thinking will not have been made any clearer by Saturday's shambles against Tonga, much of which Li�vremont viewed through the fingers held to his face.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/oct/01/rugby-world-cup-france
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