Wales 8 - 9 France: Welsh hopes speared by red card

FRANCE held on to reach the World Cup final with a dramatic 9-8 victory yesterday over a gallant Wales team forced to play three quarters of the game with 14 men after their captain Sam Warburton was sent off.

Flanker Warburton was shown the red card in the 18th minute for a spear tackle on France winger Vincent Clerc, offering the French a gilt-edged invitation to claim a place in a third World Cup final after 1987 and 1999.

Les Bleus made heavy work of it but ultimately three penalties from the boot of fly-half Morgan Parra and a huge defensive effort were enough to set up a final back at Eden Park next Sunday against hosts New Zealand or Australia, who meet in the second semi-final today.

“It was a really tough game for us and we are very happy to be in the World Cup final,” said French captain Thierry Dusautoir. “We won thanks to our defence. We defended well... we played with our hearts.”

Wales, who had lock Huw Richards sent off in their only previous semi-final against New Zealand in 1987, produced a herculean effort after Warburton’s dismissal and scored the only try of the match in the 59th minute through scrum-half Mike Phillips. The Welsh will long rue replacement stand-off Stephen Jones grazing the post with the conversion that would have given the Welsh the lead as well as two missed penalties from James Hook and a long-range effort from Leigh Halfpenny that came up just short.

Wales kept on attacking the French at every opportunity but despite going through more than 25 phases as the seconds ticked away to the end of the game, they were unable to get close enough to the French posts to give Jones a kickable attempt at a drop goal.

“I can’t be more proud of our guys after what they did out there, I feel hollow,” said coach Warren Gatland.

“I just thought the red card ruined the semi-final... and ruined our chance of making the final.”

Gatland conceded Warburton deserved to be penalised for illegally lifting Clerc but claimed the referee had made a grave mistake by issuing the Welsh captain a red card. “Having looked at it, we accept it that he lifted him and it warrants a yellow card, but he doesn’t drive him into the ground,” Gatland said. “The thing that surprised me was the referee’s instinct. I thought an experienced referee would bring in the touchies [assistant referees] and have a chat then make a judgment.”

Stand-off Hook opened the scoring for Wales with an eighth-minute penalty and his young back line started making inroads with some incisive and confident running. The match turned ten minutes later, however, when Clerc came scooting around the blindside of a ruck and was sent crashing head-first into the grass by Warburton, who was shown the red card by referee Alain Rolland.

“I’m gutted with the red card,” said an ashen-faced Warburton, who was reduced to tears as he applauded the Welsh fans after the game. “There was nothing malicious in the tackle.”

Four minutes later, the Welsh pack gave up a penalty at the scrum and Parra stepped up to level the score. He added another five minutes from the break to send his side into the half-time break 6-3 ahead.

His third penalty came 11 minutes into the second half and the match looked all but lost for the Welsh until Phillips came storming down the blindside of a ruck and through the tackle of French lock Pascal Pape to touch down eight minutes later.

That set up a nerve-tingling final 20 minutes but ultimately the biggest day in Welsh rugby history, and their hopes of reaching a first World Cup final, ended in disappointment for their many supporters at Eden Park and the many more packed into Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

“I’d like to thank all the fans who followed us out here, the 60-odd thousand back at the stadium at home,” said Gethin Jenkins. “The boys are really chuffed at the support and sad we couldn’t get the result.”