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'I lost my head': French star Sebastian Vahaamahina's tearful apology to teammates following red card
By Online Editors
French star Sebastian Vahaamahina has made an emotional confession to his teammates after effectively costing his nation a place in the World Cup semi-finals with a red card during France's 20-19 defeat to Wales in Oita on Sunday.
The 27-year-old was sent from the field by referee Jaco Peyper in the 49th minute after the New Caledonian-born lock struck Welsh loose forward and eventual man-of-the-match Aaron Wainwright in the face with his elbow.
At the time of his dismissal, the French were leading the fixture 19-10, but conceded 10 more points in Vahaamahina's absence, ruling them out of a place in the competition's final four.
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In a video posted on French broadcaster TF1’s website, a tearful Vahaamahina spoke to his squad members in the French changing room after the match to apologise for his actions.
“I think I completely lost my head. It’s difficult,” he said.
“Frankly it’s indefensible … you’re one hell of a generation of players,” he added, in reference to France's emerging crop of young talent, including the likes of scrumhalf Antoine Dupont, flyhalf Romain Ntamack and loose forward Gregory Alldritt, who have yet to play more than 20 tests each but were considered integral members of France's World Cup campaign.
After the match, French captain Guilhem Guirado and veteran No. 8 Louis Picamoles both announced their retirements from international rugby, ending their tenures with Les Bleus on a disappointing note.
The loss will have particularly stung given how well France had played before conceding a 74th-minute try to Ross Moriarty, with Welsh head coach Warren Gatland admitting that his opponents deserved to be in the semi-finals ahead of his own side.
"The better team lost. That red card was obviously important," the Kiwi coach said in a post-match television interview.
"The great thing about our boys is they don't give up. We kept working away in a tough, physical game after France came out of the blocks well.
"We stuck in the game and obviously the red card was the big, significant moment. And Tomos Williams came on with a little break and that rip at the end was pretty special."
Wales will now face South Africa in the second of next weekend's two semi-finals in Yokohama as they eye a maiden berth into the World Cup final, where they would face one of either England or New Zealand.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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