Laporte regrets outburst

France coach Bernard Laporte admits feeling bad about flying into a rage with his players after their recent devastating loss to Ireland which ended all hope of winning the RBS 6 Nations Championship.

In successive games, the reigning Grand Slam champions crashed 25-17 to England and 15-12 to Ireland, severely undermining their standing in World Cup year.

Laporte was incandescent with rage after the Ireland game, blasting the players for their lack of commitment, motivation and discipline.

But France’s dashing 53-27 win over Italy in Rome on Sunday eased the pain and even put a smile back on his face.

“The feelings I experienced just before the match with Italy were very charged with emotion, probably even stronger than ahead of England or Ireland,” Laporte told L’Equipe.

“The truth is that I was hard with my players in Dublin.

“I said things that might have hurt them, I was sincere but on the other hand I felt bad and sad to say that to them.

“But then, minutes before the match started (in Rome on Sunday), we were all in the dressing rooms and I saw them all united and encouraging each other.

“I told Xavier (Gousse, the team’s physiotherapist): I know what is going to happen. I did not think that we would score 53 points but I knew that we would win.”

France scored seven tries against Italy while Biarritz fly-half Dimitri Yachvili kicked 18 points in a near faultless performance.

“Dimitri performed excellently, almost 100% success in goalkicking and we are very satisfied about that,” Laporte added.

“In the game as well he did a few great things.”

Laporte added: “In a team, when every single player brings something, nothing bad can happen. Rugby is not a ball game, it is a sport of fight.

“If the necessary ingredients like aggression, commitment, motivation, defence, and conquest are not there then there is no game.”

Laporte and manager Jo Maso are expected to name an unchanged squad tomorrow morning ahead of the clash with Wales at the Stade de France on Saturday.