Special envoy to Lyon
This snatched victory against England is a reflection of this Tournament which was tough…François Cros: We started this Tournament badly, we were keen to recover and finish well, by finally validating a victory at the House. It was complicated but we managed to get her in the last minutes. We were satisfied with the outcome and happy to have been able to offer a victory to the public which was incredible.
How did you experience this last penalty from Thomas Ramos? We are happy but we are mainly thinking about the next return, because there is still some ammunition. We did not fall into euphoria. We prepared, before they typed, the dismissal that followed. This made us smile. Winning this match is a good thing done. This match could have escaped us at the start of the second half. We showed character, we managed to come back, it’s a good thing to have shown that character. Even if we would have preferred to avoid taking this try at the end of the first half and to start the second half better.
After a very difficult start to the Tournament, you showed great strength of character…Yes, we missed the start of the Tournament. We are big boys, we had to react, we managed to do so by winning twice away (Scotland and Italy). Unfortunately, the draw against Italy broke this dynamic. We were able to react afterwards and finish well against England, who had a very good Tournament. Even if they were aware of Ireland’s result (titled after their victory over Scotland, Editor’s note), they had come to win at home.
Can the French XV rebuild on this? Yes of course, it is promising for the future. New players have integrated well into the system. Not everything has to be thrown away. The start was not good, it’s a shame. We can regret this in view of Ireland’s defeat in the fourth match (against England). But what’s good is having the strength of character to react and not give up on this match, when we take these three consecutive tries.
Failed or successful tournament? We are second, we cannot be satisfied with that. It’s a shame when we see the quality that we can put into certain matches, at certain moments. It’s a shame to finish second in a Tournament where we had three receptions. We are not satisfied, but we are happy with the result of this (Saturday) evening.
Due to its scenario, this match against the English resembled the quarter-final against the Springboks. Did you think about it at any time? Yes, it was very strategic, there was a lot of kicking and aerial balls. They had perhaps analyzed the quarter-final and they perhaps wanted to use that pattern, with a big defense and a lot of pressure on high balls. But we perhaps used this quarter-final not to panic, to sort out two or three things about the high balls at half-time, to avoid hitting them at home but rather to try to get involved. and take them. Something we did quite well in the second half. It’s good to have learned the lesson from the quarter-final and managed to turn the tide.
We won’t talk to you anymore about this quarter-final? Yes, I think we need to turn the page. It’s gone, it’s a long way away, we have to stop looking back.
