France national coach Laurent Frayssinous has been left devastated after his side’s heartbreaking golden-point loss to Lebanon in their final World Cup match, with a controversial escort penalty proving decisive in the dramatic finish.
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With the scores locked in extra time, French playmaker Cesar Rouge thought he had won the match for his nation with a field goal in front of the posts, but The Bunker quickly denied it after viewing the footage.
The result left Frayssinous visibly emotional, with the French coach questioning whether the outcome would have been different if the match had been played under Super League rules rather than NRL rules.
The entire squad – bar Latrell Siegwalt, who didn’t play – are currently playing over in the Super League competition.
“A lot of highs and lows in there emotionally. What can I say? What do you want me to say? You want me to say if we play that game with the Super League rules, we win the game?” he declared.
“That’s what you want me to say? Or if you played the NRL game and our boys don’t get to use that rule?
“I don’t want to take away what my boys have done tonight. They made French Rugby League very proud and I’m proud of them.
“We discussed how embarrassed we were for the first two games and tonight they responded against NRL players, so I’m pretty proud (and) really disappointed not to win the game, especially with (it being) Barn Garcia’s last game.
“It was pretty chaotic, and I was smiling 20 minutes ago and now I’m nearly crying.”
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Frayssionus went on to explain the difficulties his players faced adapting to the different rules and interpretations, insisting a few weeks of preparation wasn’t enough to properly understand the changes.
“It’s a different rule in the Super League. You’re allowed to do that in Super League. It’s as simple as that,” he continued.
“You have to train with our rules to understand a bit more and even if we had during the tournament some referees coming in and we shared with them the ruck speed and everything was perfect.
“It’s one way you talk about it and one way you practice it. But practice it for four or two weeks and a half is not enough. It’s as simple as that.”
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Although he displayed his frustration, he stated the international game and Super League should both adapt the NRL rules.
“I like NRL rules and the way the game is played. That’s what I like. What I don’t like is my boys playing in Super League and when you play an international game it’s also different,” he said.
“There’s two rules that aren’t the same. I’m not going to say it because we lost but we didn’t play the game to be qualified for the semi-final as well.
“I’m happy with the attitude and the way my boys responded in the last two games.”