‘We were a French force’ – Cameron Woki

France flanker Cameron Woki was proud of their performance, despite the team succumbing to England in the Autumn Nations Cup final.

Les Bleus were written off prior to the game, with the starting XV containing just 68 caps, but the inexperienced side were excellent throughout.

They pushed the World Cup finalists all the way, only to lose to an extra time penalty from Owen Farrell as they went down 22-19.

No weakened France team

“It was not a French farce, but a French force. We wanted to show that there is only one French squad,” Woki said.

“There’s no B team or C team. We showed we could compete with England. There’s a bit of disappointment, obviously, but we can be proud of ourselves.”

Head coach Fabien Galthie echoed Woki’s sentiments but was also frustrated with some of the refereeing calls towards the end of the game.

A couple of decisions went against the French in the lead-up to the try which took the game into extra time and Galthie admitted that there were a few regrets.

“The players honoured the France shirt. It’s a defeat, we must admit it. We concede the defeat but it’s also frustrating,” he said.

“The game was lost on details but also on (refereeing) decisions, it’s very frustrating.”

https://twitter.com/btsportrugby/status/1335686373853048836

Despite the end result, Galthie was pleased with many aspects of France’s performance as they controlled large parts of the match against England’s best.

He added: “We wanted to put the players in the best possible condition mentally and physically. We worked a lot on strategy. We analysed the English game.

“We were very strong mentally and very well organised in attack. The defence sequence we had at the end of the first half was very representative of our effort. We were satisfied with that.

“It didn’t annoy us or disturb us what was said about the team during the week. However, we did read what was said about us.

“The players really managed to take this opportunity. They had the spirit to do that.”