FRANCE COACH PHILIPPE SAINT-ANDRE says the smiles are back on his players’ faces after last season’s bottom-placed side produced a late, late comeback to stun England.
France looked set to be coasting after two early tries from Yoann Huget had them well clear. England battled back, however, and led 24-19 going into the final three minutes. The home side fought back with an impressive break up the left flank and 19-year-old Gaël Fickou made Andy Goode look foolish before diving over for the match-winning try.
“I wouldn’t say this is the birth of a team,” Saint-Andre commented. “We went through rough times in 2013 and got a lot from it, this is also important in the creation of a group and I think we learned a few lessons. We showed amazing spirit, we showed some guts.
“It had been a while since I had seen smiling faces among the boys, and that’s what matters. Obviously, there are things to improve, we are well aware of it, we were on the pitch. We know where we want to go.”
Saint-Andre paid credit to the Top 14 chiefs for giving his players a much-needed weekend off and believed it helped his team to out-gun England in the final moments of a pulsating encounter.
The former France winger says the upturn in his team’s fortunes are more evolution than revolution. He said, “Let’s give credit where credit is due, and thank the French federation and the professional league. If we hadn’t had two weeks to prepare for this game, we wouldn’t have won. We can see once again that, given the intensity in international rugby, our players really need a true break five-week between seasons, and not just a couple of weeks with friendly games starting right away.”
Saint-Andre praised young out-half Jules Plisson for an “absolutely brilliant” first-half performance but admitted he feared the worst when France were pinned in their half with time running out. He remarked, “I was on the sideline for the last two minutes, and when our clearing kick was charged in our own half, I was afraid 2014 was going to look like 2013.”
