Rugby-France turn potential farce into show of force despite England defeat

France felt equally proud and frustrated after their inexperienced team conceded a 22-19 sudden-death defeat by England in the Autumn Nations Cup final at Twickenham on Sunday. Les Bleus, whose starting XV boasted 68 caps to England's 772, reached the interval with a deserved 13-6 lead.

France felt equally proud and frustrated after their inexperienced team conceded a 22-19 sudden-death defeat by England in the Autumn Nations Cup final at Twickenham on Sunday.

Les Bleus, whose starting XV boasted 68 caps to England's 772, reached the interval with a deserved 13-6 lead. But the match was thrown into extra time when Luke Cowan-Dickie touched down for the hosts after earning a debatable penalty leading to the lineout that set up the last-minute try. Number eight Selevasio Tolofua was penalised for not staying on his feet long enough as he was contesting the ball in a ruck and Billy Vunipola appeared to knock the ball on in the sequence leading to the try.

France could not field their top men following an agreement between the federation and the league stating that a player could only feature on three match sheets during the autumn tests. "It was not a French farce, but a French force today. We wanted to show that there is only one French squad," said flanker Cameron Woki after Les Bleus played some pacy and inspired rugby, especially in the first half.

"There's no B team or C team. We showed we could compete with England. There's a bit of disappointment, obviously, but we can be proud of ourselves." Coach Fabien Galthie, under which France beat England in the Six Nations after he took over this year, was frustrated by Andrew Brace's refereeing.

"The players honoured the France shirt. It's a defeat, we must admit it. We concede the defeat but it's also frustrating," said Galthie. "The game was lost on details but also on (refereeing) decisions, it's very frustrating.

"If you look at the game closely you will find many (debatable refereeing decision). But it's part of the game and we can only hope that next time around those decisions will be in our favour." The French defence was also up to the task, weathering an English storm on their line on the stroke of halftime.

"It was determination, but not just that. It was also the result of a lot of technical work about positioning around the ruck," said Galthie, who had insisted his team of youngsters would 'be ready' after British media said the match would be a 'farce' as France could not take top scrumhalf Antoine Dupont and co to Twickenham. "We're coming out of this game frustrated, we had the keys to the match, but we're proud," said scrumhalf Baptiste Couilloud, who wore the skipper's armband for his first start with Les Bleus.