Laporte disappointed at France’s ‘mental fragility’ against Pumas

FRANCE coach Bernard Laporte accused his side of “mental fragility” after their nervy 27-26 win over Argentina.

Les Bleus were 27-9 up at one point put allowed the Pumas back into the match and were hanging on in the final minutes in Paris.

Laporte said: “We could have humiliated them, but we showed mental fragility in the last minutes and we nearly died of fright.

“But it’s good in a way, because if we had won by a 40-point margin, everybody would have been euphoric and that euphoria would not have let us analyse our mistakes. I will single out only the first hour of the match (as being good). After that we weakened. I do not know if it is a problem of concentration.”

France captain Raphael Ibanez admitted he left the stadium with a “strange feeling”.

He said: “The Argentinians pushed us in the last 20 minutes, but on the whole we controlled the game. Today, we had plenty of possession, we were more creative, more enthusiastic. The group showed it had enormous resources and offensive qualities.

“Argentina are a difficult team because they have very good players, who are naturally aggressive and have exemplary attitudes. They play with their hearts.

“(Argentina full-back Juan Martin) Hernandez manages the team very well on the pitch.

Because of all that, this is a very important win for us.”

Hernandez admitted his side only had themselves to blame.

“Once more, as we did against Italy, we failed at lineouts and paid for losing concentration,” he said.

Despite the defeat, their first against France in the last five Tests, coach Marcelo Loffreda saw plenty of positives to take from the European tour, which included wins over England and Italy.

He said: “We did play at a high level in some parts of the three games, but we had a huge mental strength. In difficult moments of the England Test that strength appeared, but there were some other moments in which Argentina were the better team.

“I think we played better against France than England and Italy. If not, it would have been a catastrophe. They are a very good team who are demonstrating they are one of the world’s top teams.”