Frogs go from heroes to zeros

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French rugby is reeling after Saturday’s humiliating 13-41 defeat by Argentina in Buenos Aires left the players at a loss to explain how they could have fallen from Six Nations heroes to touring zeros in such a short space of time.

AFP

In March, the French completed an impressive Grand Slam and last month two French clubs – Toulouse and Biarritz – took part in the Heineken Cup Final.

But a short tour to South Africa and Argentina saw them slumping to record defeats in the two Tests in Cape Town – where they lost 17-42 a fortnight ago – and Buenos Aires.

Going into the weekend’s Test, coach Marc Lievremont had admitted that the players were tired from a long season but that they would “do the business” when the game began. Instead, it was the worst defeat since he took over in January 2008.

“After such a setback, it is difficult to find explanations on the spot,” said France captain Thierry Dusautoir.

“It is ridiculous. But it is our level, unfortunately. For a team that has ambitions to win the World Cup [in 2011], it is going to be very difficult to get back up again.”

DISINTEGRATE

The defeat to the Springboks in the Cape has been overshadowed by this latest catastrophe which saw the French game disintegrate in every department.

“We are ashamed to be going into the history books as the French team that shipped 40 points in South Africa and 40 points in Argentina,” said prop Fabien Barcella.

“That is 80 points in two matches, the statistic is quite clear. We certainly didn’t perform to our capability.”

Lievremont has called it the “tour for nothing” and there is a sense of waste that France have not moved forward at all in the three months since winning the Six Nations.

“Perhaps we relied a little on the impetus of the Grand Slam a bit too much,” said back rower Julien Bonnaire.

“This will bring everyone down, maybe that is a good thing for what is coming next.”

Bonnaire, however, refused to blame the two defeats on end of season fatigue at the end of a long season.

“For sure, we have long seasons, physically it is tough but we cannot hid behind that.

“Top players know that after defeats like this they have to ask themselves a few questions. It is up to each one to do it.”

LATEST IRB RANKINGS

1(1) NEW ZEALAND 91.68
2(2) SOUTH AFRICA 89.46
3(4) AUSTRALIA 84.41
4(3) FRANCE 82.75
5(5) IRELAND 82.03
6(6) ENGLAND 81.82
7(7) SCOTLAND 79.81
8(9) ARGENTINA 79.70
9(8) WALES 78.58
10(10) FIJI 74.39
11(11) ITALY 72.97
12(13) SAMOA 72.74
13(12) JAPAN 72.49
14(14) CANADA 69.43
15(15) USA 67.86