France coach Marc Lievremont accused England hooker Mark Regan of playing against the rules after the defending champion’s 24-13 Six Nations defeat by the World Cup runners-up at the Stade de France today.
“I didn’t like the behaviour of the England hooker, I don’t even want to remember his name,” Lievremont said.
“He was ridiculous and grotesque,” Lievremont said of Regan, who was substituted early in the second half.
“His behaviour is offensive and against the rules. He’s a clown.
“That doesn’t take away any of the respect I have for an England team who deserved their victory.”
England coach Brian Ashton said he did not comment on what other coaches had said but defended Regan.
“He’s an outstanding international hooker, he’s a fantastic scrummager, he’s a scrapper in the good sense of the word, and he’s a great bloke,” said Ashton.
“We took him off the field because he had damaged his hand.”
England, fired by the boot of Jonny Wilkinson, dashed French hopes of a Six Nations Grand Slam with the win.
It was England’s first away win over France in the Six Nations since 2000, and left unbeaten Wales as the only side in European rugby’s premier tournament now capable of claiming the Grand Slam.
England’s win was fired by a gritty defensive display and 14 points from Wilkinson along with an opportunist try by winger Paul Sackey and a late try from debutant Wigglesworth.
In their first meeting since October’s World Cup semi-final won 14-9 by England, the home side scored their only try through captain Lionel Nallet, with Morgan Parra and Dimitri Yachvili hitting a penalty apiece and Damien Traille a conversion.
“There were a few things we needed to iron out at halftime,” said Ashton.
“By my conservative estimate we gave away eight penalties in that first half. The discipline side of things is something we need to sort out.
“In the second half we did well to weather the French storm. We worked our way back into the game pretty intelligently.”
Ashton was full of praise for scrumhalf Richard Wigglesworth, who started for the first time and scored a late try.
“He showed a lot of composure in a fairly hostile environment,” Ashton said.
“I’m very pleased with the way he performed tonight.”
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