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.”
Ian Noble
Guest
France should have known what was coming it had been flagged in the UK press in the two weeks prior to the game including Reagan winding up the French. English hookers including Brian Moore have always done it. So it was surprising that France had no game plan to counter the obvious. The beauty of union is the ability to play alternative game plans to suit the game in hand, the French had no plan B or C and the French coaching staff must take the blame. As for Ronnie Reagan, it will probably be his swan song and his character will be lost to the english squad. However he will go down in English rugby folklore for calling the Aussie front row "teletubbies" during the RWC QF. As for Brian Moore don't believe everything he says he is known for being outspoken and provocative.
matta
Guest
well the saffers could argue they are up there as the best nation of the last 12 -13 years too... but they had 2 or 3 years off in a big way .....
matta
Guest
"At one point Moore commented that you can’t rely on a multifaceted approach “otherwise you end up like Australia”. Given the recent RWC QF it’s a more than interesting point !" oh... he means the best nation of the WC era? well perhaps NZ have won more games but few would argue that England have had a better chop at the last 20 years than Australia..??? surely 2 bad international seasons (while the poms were having a worse time of it mind you) doesnt write the wallabies off. Oh sorry I forgot, they beat up at last word cup by 3 points wasnt it? wow, they are light years ahead of us.... NOT
Mart
Guest
"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much" ! Surely a hooker getting under the skin of the opposition pack is part of the job description (Sean Fitzpatrick anybody) ? More interesting points for me about this game were: 1. The 3 rookie picks Lievremont made in key positions, all of whom fizzled. Eng played their traditional game well (strong pack, no real backs penetration) and improved their defence and won fairly easily. Begs the question when is the right time to intro new faces ? You could argue France will be stronger long term when these 3 gain experience but lost short term to some extent because they were played. Contrast that with Eng who we are told have some good new backs talent (Cipriani etc) but persist with tried and trusted (Wilko etc) 2. Possibly the most impressive stanza from both sides came in the 74th minute when a French back dropped a pass 5m outside his own posts giving Eng a scrum. The commentators said, rightly, all Eng had to do was retain the ball for 5 mins and they win - true but somethimes hard to do. In the event they did so superbly and launched repeated pack waves at the french line (probably as much to chew up time as actually score) all the while maintaining possession. They eventually scored a try on time when France ran out of defenders. However also worth nothing France's defence to that point was also excellent - similar to the defence that repelled NZ in the RWC quarter 2nd half. The commentators made a point that several times Eng shielded the ball at the back of the ruck and took some time to start the next phase (time wasting certainly) - all legally - and wondered whether they should be a 'use it or lose it' time limit to such plays. A fair call in my opinion 3. Ex Eng hooker Brian Moore was one of the (extremly biased !) commentators and made the point that Eng had picked players for the ability to do their primary role well wheras France had gone more for 'multifaceted' players with a range of skills rather than purely 'primary position' strength. Moore's view was that contributed hugely to Eng getting on top at scrums and in backs defence. An interesting observation. At one point Moore commented that you can't rely on a multifaceted approach "otherwise you end up like Australia". Given the recent RWC QF it's a more than interesting point !