French problems run deeper than latest flop

A meeting of mopeds and Ferraris.

Not our words, unfortunately, but those of the first French journalist to turn the knife on Philippe Saint-Andre just moments after the French head coach took his seat at Saturday’s post-match press conference in the Millennium Stadium. Saint-Andre’s response was to describe the All Blacks as the Brazilians of rugby, which is fine, but this was a game that shone the most unforgiving of lights on the French and that demanded more than the departing coach’s effort to accept defeat with “dignity”.

Did he feel shame, he was asked? Yes, he did. When he was interviewed on the pitch shortly after the final whistle it was accompanied by a cacophony of boos from those French fans who had the stomach to stay in the Millennium Stadium to witness the absolute nadir. His four-year term is over. It is one that produced just eight wins in 20 Six Nations games and their worst ever defeat in a World Cup. He will not be missed, but Saint-Andre is merely the public face of a problem that runs much deeper in French rugby.