Hart broken

French coach close to tears

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Posted: Sunday October 31, 1999 05:58 PM

France's Philippe Bernat-Salles scores a try as Jeff Wilson of New Zealand tackles him. AP

LONDON (Reuters) -- New Zealand coach John Hart said his team had made too many mistakes and failed to react to pressure in its shock 43-31 defeat by France in the World Cup semifinals Sunday, the biggest upset in the Cup's history.

"We made too many mistakes. We went out to keep the ball in our hands in the second half and we didn't do that. We made mistakes and the French capitalized and got in behind us," Hart said.

"We put ourselves under huge pressure. I hate to think how many balls we dropped today. Under pressure we just didn't respond. We threw the passes that we shouldn't have thrown. That was where we got let down today."

France coach Pierre Villepreux was close to tears.

"This is a very emotional moment. I am really delighted for the players. You could say lots of things, but I just say 'Bravo'. We controlled the match well and then we have that talent."

French try scorer Christophe Dominici said people had thought the All Blacks were already in the final before the game.

"In 10 matches, we would beat them once and it was today," he said. "Nobody believed in us, but this is a reward for a group of 30, 40 people who kept close together.

"Sometimes even New Zealand miss a match. We know what it's like. It's happened to us often."

The French now meet Australia in next Saturday's final in Cardiff.

Flyhalf Christophe Lamaison, who scored 28 points, said: "It's a pity we're not world champions after this match. We have one more match to play and a week of hard work ahead of us to make it to the top."

Center Emile Ntamack said the Twickenham crowd had been behind the French.

"There were 70,000 people behind us today," he said. "All French for one day. They deserve this victory. This victory also proves that some don't learn.

"We were criticized the same way as our soccer team were before their World Cup [triumph last year]. This is the answer."

Former Kiwi skipper Sean Fitzpatrick said the New Zealand public would find the defeat hard to swallow.

 

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