France players upset at ‘spoilt brats’ jibe as coach admits he went too far

Lievremont blasted some players for defying a curfew to celebrate the scrappy 9-8 semi-final win over Wales last weekend. The nature of France’s win had already provided fodder for critics, and the players probably didn’t need their coach fanning the flames.

“I didn’t appreciate that at all,” Nallet said yesterday. “We were expecting the week to be pretty difficult as it was with all the criticism and all that, [so] I don’t think it was really necessary to make it even more so. It just didn’t please me, that’s all, but there’s no problem. It’s no big deal, my goal is Sunday.”

Lievremont – who yesterday named an unchanged XV for the final – is the most outspoken, direct coach at the tournament, but his latest rebuke was remarkable, even by his own standards. The day after the Wales match, and without any prompting, Lievremont told a news conference how he had told his players off for going out against his wishes. In doing so, he delivered just the kind of screaming headline he’s been railing against.

“I told them what I thought of them,” he said of his misbehaving players. “That they’re a bunch of undisciplined, spoiled brats, disobedient, sometimes selfish, always complaining, always whining, and they’ve been [frustrating me] for four years.”

“It seems to be our way of functioning,” Lievremont continued. “I also told them I have a lot of affection for them, but it’s a shame they don’t know how to look after themselves.”

Three days later, Lievremont admits he went a bit too far. “It was a way of summarising the four years [of his coaching tenure], to put the pressure on them a bit,” he said. “When I saw my words on the front page, and the outcry that followed, I told myself I’d missed the chance to shut my big mouth.”

Lievremont has been highly critical of his players at various times during the tournament, notably after the opening match against Japan and following the shock defeat to Tonga in the pool stage. Centre Maxime Mermoz admits to having “mixed feelings” about Lievremont’s latest rebuke. “When you’re criticised a lot in this way, you only have one wish and that’s to reverse the tendency,” Mermoz said. “Obviously when you’re even a little bit sensitive, you listen to what’s being said here and there. With regards to our situation, some very strong words have been used, so obviously it’s upsetting. But our minds are elsewhere on what needs to be done.”

Mermoz credits Lievremont, however, for his unflinching “honesty” and thinks he “wants to shake us up.” In yesterday’s edition of sports daily L’Equipe, there was a report that Lievremont had launched a verbal tirade at full-back Maxime Medard at half-time during the Wales match, and that some players were taken aback by Lievremont’s tone of voice.

“It’s the role of a coach to tell his players what he thinks,” Medard said yesterday. “I’m thinking of the final.”

Not many critics give France a chance of winning on Sunday, not least the country’s media, which maintains tense relations with Lievremont and some of the players, such as centre Aurelien Rougerie.

Rougerie found himself embroiled in a bizarre to-and-fro bickering contest with French reporters at yesterday’s press conference. “You know the questions aren’t that pertinent, either, so we try and make do with it,” he told a reporter who was exasperated with the flat responses Rougerie had been giving.

In an absurd scene, another reporter then challenged Rougerie to play the role of a journalist and ask Nallet a question, which he did in an attempt to parody what he had referred to as bland questions. “You’re upset?” he then asked the assembled group.

The tone then rose as Rougerie went on the offensive, saying it was unfair that the players were always under the microscope but the critics didn’t seem to have critics of their own. He suddenly rose and left the room, leaving a puzzled-looking Nallet to field more questions.

Nallet admits some of the criticism has been warranted, but he said: “In a way it brings us closer together... we’ve been getting massacred for a while now. There’s been no recognition, that’s for sure. If we win this match, there will be.”

France team: Maxime Medard, Vincent Clerc, Aurelien Rougerie, Maxime Mermoz, Alexis Palisson, Morgan Parra, Dimitri Yachvili; Imanol Harinordoquy, Julien Bonnaire, Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Lionel Nallet, Pascal Pape, Nicolas Mas, William Servat, Jean-Baptiste Poux.