Antoine Dupont questioned the performance of the referee, Ben O’Keeffe, following France’s shattering quarter-final exit from the Rugby World Cup at the hands of the defending champions, South Africa.
“There’s a lot of disappointment and frustration,” said the France captain. “When we watch the match again, there are probably things that will make us even more frustrated.
“I don’t want to be a bad loser and moan about the refereeing. But I am not sure the level of refereeing was up to what was at stake today … [But] that doesn’t take anything away from the South Africans. They played a great game.”
The France head coach, Fabien Galthié, said he understood his players’ frustration while asking supporters and friends to “be brave” in the aftermath of the painful departure from their own tournament. “Firstly I am thinking of first of our fans, our families, all the people who believe in us and who support us daily,” Galthié said. “All the people who were around us, our staff, who put in all the work – and the players. My first thought is, for all our families and supporters, our France ‘group’– has to be brave tonight.”
Of the physical battle in an attritional match at Stade de France, Galthié said: “We were equal to them. Other times South Africa were on top. But really I felt we matched them. I haven’t got the data in front of me, but the feeling I had is that we very much matched the South Africans.”
“No regrets,” added Galthié. “You’re allowed to lose like we did today. The players have the right. I think we did everything to optimise our potential.”
Having set up a semi-final against England in Paris on Saturday, the South Africa captain, Siya Kolisi, said: “A lot of questions were asked by the French team. We had a clear plan, especially at the breakdowns, and they were tough to stop. We had to fight for each other and I’m really proud of the character of the boys.”
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The South Africa head coach, Jacques Nienaber, said: “We knew, coming in, playing the French in France, if you look at their consistency and performances – we knew it would be tight. It was a proper test match.”
Informed that Dupont had criticised the refereeing, Nienaber said: “I thought Ben was good on the day. We played in such a way to try and take the referee out of the game.”
