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Brunel admits inconsistent France 'still have work to do'

Brunel 2

France coach Jacques Brunel said qualification was his side’s main goal after they secured a World Cup quarter-final place with a narrow 23-21 victory over Tonga in Pool C.

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The Pacific Islanders fought back from a 17-point deficit, scoring two second-half tries, but Les Bleus were able to hold on for the win to maintain their 100 per cent record in the tournament.

Speaking after the game, Brunel said, reported by the national rugby website: “What matters tonight is the qualification.

“That was our first goal: it was not easy. There were stages to pass. We passed them: sometimes with difficulty – but we passed them. The first thing to secure, is the qualification, which fully satisfied us.”

On the game he added: “They attacked the game well, had some good chances to score in the first half.

“We wanted to make a better copy. There is still work (to do).”

Tonga have yet to win a match at the tournament so far, but coach Toutai Kefu said he was proud of his side’s efforts.

“We haven’t started games well and it’s definitely an issue for us,” Kefu said.

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“But I’m definitely proud of what happened after that – the way they stuck in there and put us in a position to maybe win.

“I’m always proud of the boys, the sacrifices they make just to turn up and endure what they endure on tour.”

France will battle it out with England for the Pool C top spot on Saturday while Tonga will play the USA on Sunday in search of their first win.

Watch: Don’t mess with Jim

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J
JW 32 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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