So Close for Uruguay

France defeat spirited Uruguay 27-12 in Pool A at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille on Thursday.

France made it two wins from two at Rugby World Cup 2023 with a 27-12 victory over spirited Uruguay in Pool A in Lille.

The hosts were chastened when Uruguay fly-half Felipe Etcheverry’s cushioned cross-field pass was collected by Nicolas Freitas who hared down the left wing for an early opening try.

Etcheverry’s French counterpart Antoine Hastoy soon found a way through the yellow jerseys to score, and two penalties by Melvyn Jaminet gave Les Bleus a 13-5 half-time lead.

Uruguay, ranked 17th in the world, moved to within a point when Baltazar Amaya scored but France substitute Peato Mauvaka pounced on a ricochet to run clear and touch down and wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s late try secured the victory.

“It has been a very difficult match,” said Maxime Lucu, France’s Mastercard Player of the Match.

“We tried to set the pace, but we couldn’t manage to score. We’re happy with the performance and the fact that we won in front of our fans. The tournament continues.”

Los Teros will have won many admirers for their performance in their opening match and will surely head to Stade de Nice to take on Italy with confidence.

Their captain Andres Vilaseca said: “I’m so proud of my team. I couldn’t ask for a better team to lead. We were fighting against France, one of the best teams in the world on their home ground. I am so proud. This is only the beginning for us.

“We fought for the whole game but it was key for us to keep pushing France and keep battling.”

Raphael Ibanez, France general manager, was keen to praise his team’s opponents.

“Credit to Uruguay,” he said. “They played with so much passion and heart.

“It was a hard battle but it is a second win for us in this competition and that is what is most important. We made some mistakes with the ball in hand and it was difficult for us to play with a good structure. We didn’t take the points at the end of the first half – it’s a World Cup game – and we will learn from that.

“The good thing about this competition, playing in France, is the crowd, the amazing atmosphere. It gives a lot of energy to the players so thanks to the fans.”

REACTIONS FROM FRANCE:

LILLE – Reaction from head coach Fabien Galthié, Mastercard Player of the Match Maxime Lucu, general manager Raphaël Ibanez, captain Anthony Jelonch, hooker Pierre Bourgarit, flanker Sekou Macalou, centre Artthur Vincent and second-rows Thibaut Flament and Cameron Woki following France’s 27-12 win over Uruguay at Stade Pierre-Mauroy on 14 September.

Pierre Bourgarit, hooker

On the performance:

“It was complicated. We had trouble getting our game going. It was frustrating. We didn’t want to play the rugby we did tonight.”

On team tensions on the pitch:

“It generated frustration. We felt dominant in the scrum but we weren’t always rewarded. Uruguay gave us a hard time in the rucks. It happens that we get into a spat, but it’s never too bad. It’s part of the sport.

“You know our ambition. We’ve won our two group matches. Our ambition is to finish top of the group. We’ve still got two games to win. We hope to give a better account of ourselves in seven days’ time.”

On France’s problems in attack:

“We struggled to make good use of our ruck. Obviously, without fast ball it’s harder to set up your game, and Uruguay were excellent. They came here to put on a good show. It was their opening match. We should congratulate them – they knew how to make things difficult for us. Things didn’t work out as we would have liked and that led to frustration. We’re going to analyse what went wrong so we can be better in our next games.”

Sekou Macalou, flanker

On Uruguay’s performance:

“Their quick first try surprised us – we found ourselves chasing the score. It was their opening match, we knew they were going to be hungry. We didn’t underestimate this team, we knew it was going to be complicated. We got the scenario we expected.”

On scrum issues:

“I don’t think we suffered. We were dominant but we weren’t rewarded. It’s a question of refereeing. It was 50/50. We’re frustrated.”

On the stop-start game:

“There was a false rhythm. We fell into the Uruguayan trap. We should have got on top of the game to tire them out.”

On the next match against Namibia:

“It’s going to be pretty much the same game. We’ve learned quite a few lessons and we’ll try not to make the same mistakes again. We’ll see in a week’s time.”

On France’s discipline problems:

“Our indiscipline put them in the game. Our mistakes meant they came into our camp and set the pace.”

On the close scoreline:

“We were calm because we knew that if we accelerated, we could get back in front – and that’s what happened. The problem was that we didn’t capitalise on enough chances.”

Arthur Vincent, centre

On France’s performance:

“Inevitably, there’s a bit of frustration, especially with our performance. We’ve got things to work on, and that’s good. What we’ll remember most is this win. It’s been two games, two wins, but that was a World Cup match against a very fine Uruguayan team. We were expecting it and we got what we deserved.”

Thibaut Flament, second row

On the performance against Uruguay after the win over the All Blacks:

“It’s hard to explain. We prepared well this week, we took them seriously. As far as the match is concerned, it doesn’t feel very accomplished. We had trouble stringing together periods of play and defending. We made a lot of mistakes.”

Fabien Galthié, head coach

On lessons from the match:

“In the heat of the moment, it’s difficult. We’re going to take time to recover, to share the pleasure of winning this match in front of this fantastic crowd, and the pleasure of Anthony’s return as captain. There are positive elements to share.”

On refereeing at the scrum:

“I don’t talk about refereeing. In our sport, the referee is so important to performance. He wants things to go well, for us to feel good and for the match to be enjoyable. The scrum is a source of reward at times, and sometimes of sanctions. We’ll be keeping a close eye on that, especially on areas for improvement, with William [Servat].”

On Uruguay’s desire to play more matches against the top teams:

“I agree with them. If we want world rugby to develop, a team like Uruguay, which is 17th in the rankings, needs to play more matches against the best. In Japan four years ago, they beat Fiji and held off Wales. This is a team that wants to take on the leading nations, but the only competition that allows it at the moment is the World Cup… It can be an emerging nation, like Japan was, like Georgia, Italy…”

On France’s inability to take control of the match:

“What’s important is winning. I told the players, ‘Let’s win the match’. We were hampered by Uruguay, who carried out their plan well but in the end we won. We can be satisfied. If there’s any frustration, it’s more with the players. We want them to enjoy themselves, to be happy. They’re probably frustrated, we haven’t had time to talk, but let’s respect our opponent.”

On France’s next match against Namibia:

“We won and have no injuries to worry about. We’ve got something to work on with a group preparing for the third match in Marseille. A World Cup is a long-term adventure, each match is a test, and group life is very important. A match like tonight’s strengthens the team, making it better and stronger for the match in Marseille in a week.”

Anthony Jelonch, captain and back row

On the crowd reaction after the match:

“We didn’t notice the whistles, but the crowd applauded us. We’re not going to start questioning everything just because we played an average game. We’ll remember the victory and the fans will be behind us again next week, I’m sure of it.”

Fabien Galthié, head coach

On the match:

“The important thing was to win tonight, six days after a very special opening match. We had to change tack quickly, and we also made a lot of changes to the team. We had a lot of desire, a lot of appetite and we attacked the game well. Unfortunately, we didn’t capitalise and made a lot of little mistakes.

“We had to fight right to the end to extend our lead and finish comfortably. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to take the bonus point, we should have put in one more try. That’s the takeaway.”

On the two remaining pool games:

“We’re keeping a close eye on playing time and trying to get the players who haven’t played back up and running. There’s Anthony [Jelonch], Cyril Baille, who’s close to coming back – we have to choose the right moment to get him going again. There’s also Jo (Danty) who’s ready, although we preferred to bring Yoram back to give him confidence and experience. The whole squad is available, except for Julien [Marchand], who’s having treatment.

“We’re going to have to rotate well between the two games we have left, both to keep the players focused and to rebalance playing time because with a squad of 33, all the players can be on the sheet for Namibia or Italy.”

On the number of penalties:

“In rugby, when you think you’ve got something, you lose it in the next match if you don’t take care of the little details. We started off with a disciplined performance that enabled us to win the match against New Zealand. Tonight, we put in a poor performance in terms of collective control.”

“We were nervous, desperate to make our mark, score quickly, yet we were always very diligent. On the other side, we faced a team who fought hard on the ground, who were very aggressive on the ball carrier, in tackles. We were surprised at first. And then you have doubts, it’s the type of match we call ‘trap matches’. You have to put the right ingredients in the right place at the right time – maybe we got things a bit mixed up.”

Maxime Lucu, Mastercard Player of the Match

On France’s performance:

“It has been a very difficult match. We tried to put on some pace but we were unable to score. We are happy with our performance in front of our supporters. The tournament continues.”

Raphaël Ibanez, general manager

On the Uruguay performance:

“The first thing I’d like to say is credit to Uruguay, they played with so much passion and heart. It was a hard battle but it’s the second win for us in this competition and that is what is most important.”

On what went wrong for France:

“We made a few mistakes with the ball in hand and it was difficult for us to play with a good structure. We didn’t take the points at the end of the first half as well and it’s a World Cup game, it’s business and we’ll learn from that.”

On whether they ended up putting on a good show for the fans in Lille:

“The good thing about this competition playing in France is just the crowd and the amazing atmosphere, it’s a massive boost and gives a lot of energy to the players, so thanks to the fans.”

Anthony Jelonch, captain and back row

On his first match back after injury:

“I feel really good. I’m delighted to be back. There were a few nerves on the first contact, but I quickly got back into the swing of things.”

On Uruguay:

“It was a difficult match. They played with a lot of desire and a lot of aggression. We found it hard to build our moves. There were good things and bad things. We’ll remember the win and the Uruguayans’ good game with a lot of desire. We’re going to try and sort out the little details so we can play a big game next Thursday.”

Cameron Woki, second row

On the match:

“A lot of frustration. We would have liked to have put in a different performance. We were up against a team with a lot of desire who were just starting out in the competition. We had to respect them. I think we respected them but I don’t think we were able to put our game together, either in the scrum or in the loose. We knew we were dominating but we weren’t patient. We need to try and remedy that and work on being more patient next time.”

On France’s penalty count:

“It’s a huge number. It’s unacceptable at international level. We’re lucky to win this match with 15 penalties. I thought we’d done a lot of work on discipline. Today, we were undisciplined and that’s a real shame.”

On future Rugby World Cup 2023 matches:

“All the matches are difficult – it’s a World Cup. Everyone plays their hearts out. Next week, we’ll prepare for the match as if it were a final. We were a little slack with our opponents tonight. We need to switch things up.”

REACTIONS FROM URUGUAY:

Reaction from Uruguay head coach Esteban Meneses, captain Andrés Vilaseca, prop Matias Benitez and winger Nicolás Freitas following their team’s 27-12 defeat by France in their opening game in Pool A in Lille.

Matias Benitez, prop

On the objectives for Rugby World Cup 2023:

“We don’t want just to come and go through this Rugby World Cup. We want to stay at this level and not just leave a mark. We want Uruguay to maintain at the right level and that’s what you saw today.”

“During the last World Cup, we had a high in the game with Fiji and the guideline for this tournament is to increase the number of games won, make history and show that Uruguay is set up for big things.”

Nicolás Freitas, winger

On the team’s aims for the tournament:

“Sometimes we are underestimated a little bit. Uruguay is ready for these things. This is what we seek, the effort and passion we put into the game to be recognised. We will always try to be protagonists, whether we are playing against a tier one or tier two team.”

“We want to keep playing on games like this, with this competition. It’s very difficult if we just play matches like this every four years.”

On the upcoming challenges:

“The nice thing is that the team are growing in confidence and knowing that we can do it and that we are at a good level.”

Esteban Meneses, head coach

On what was the key to Uruguay’s performance:

“I think the key element is the confidence in the group. They believe in what they’re doing. We’ve worked on our offensive and defensive systems. From there it is all about playing. You need to trust the important work that you’ve done and I think that Uruguay today expressed itself, showed its colours.

“If we are able to play more competitions with the players we have within our union, we will continue to grow and this is the way forward.”

On the ruck and the maul and whether they require more work:

In terms of the scrum, that is where they started to hurt us and where we started conceding penalties. We need to work on the scrum because these penalties cost us in terms of keeping possession of the ball and playing a quick game. We will need to improve this against Italy.

“In terms of our defence against the maul, it was a key point. We worked very hard on this in training. We are very proud of what we did against one of the best teams in the world. We defended every ball in the maul.”

On the value of the match against France:

“It was huge. When the games were drawn [for the Rugby World Cup] we knew that being able to match France was our goal. It’s a game that has given us a lot of information to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them against Italy. That’s what we are asking of our players.”

On what kind of challenge to expect from Italy in Uruguay’s second match:

“I’m expecting an Italian team that has continued to progress thanks to the level of completion that they can play in. They will be a confident team in attack. It will be a good game, a balanced game, I believe.”

Andrés Vilaseca, captain

On Uruguay’s belief that they could win the game:

“The first thing that comes to my mind is the number of journalists I see here compared to the press conference for our team announcement, when I only saw two people. I want to highlight how few journalists were there. Maybe for some this was a surprise.

“We know we were well prepared. We came here to beat France. Over four years Uruguay has only played a tier-one team once and today we played the number three team in the world playing at home and I think only 10 minutes from the end we were at 13-12, down by only one point. This might surprise some but it is clear we are able to match any team.”

On Uruguay’s defence:

“Coming back on some of the decisions, maybe we should have tried to slow the game down to get a breather, but during the week we told ourselves we had to go out and play, bring our desire out on to the field.

“My deputy captain and the rest of the group, we trust each other, we have faith and that is how we are able to fight. At the end of the day we have no regrets. I’d like to praise the work of our defensive players.”

Esteban Meneses, head coach

On his team’s performance:

“It was a very good performance. We worked very hard for this Rugby World Cup. Today the players showed that Uruguay is growing.

“The overall feeling is positive. We came to win the game, to play as equals against France.”

On the level shown by his team:

“The confidence of this group is essential to play as we did today. They believed in themselves and went out to play trusting in what they have been doing in training.

“We have been working with this game plan and that’s what we intended to show today – go out and play. There are no secret formulas, it’s just believing in what we have been doing.”

Andrés Vilaseca, captain

On his thoughts on the match:

“I’m so proud of my team. I couldn’t ask for a better team to lead. We were fighting against France, one of the best teams in the world on their home ground. I am so proud. This is only the beginning for us.

“We fought for the whole game but it was key for us to keep pushing France and keep battling.”