Laporte cites All Blacks as world's best
Laporte will face the Pumas in his final match as France coach
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Monday, 15, Oct 2007 08:29
France coach Bernard Laporte has declared that New Zealand remain the best team in the world despite their inability to convert their dominance of the sport over the last three years into World Cup glory.
Laporte's side ended the All Blacks' campaign at the quarter-final stage with a 20-18 win in Cardiff, but he insists that the pre-tournament favourites are a more formidable outfit than either England or South Africa, who will contest the final on Sunday.
"There have not been many great matches. Who has played any rugby? The only ones are the All Blacks. They have the power and the genius, something that no one else has," said the outgoing Les Bleus coach.
"They are the best team in the world. We beat them but if we had played them the next day and the following days, there was a great chance we would have lost.
"The All Blacks are the only team who can put 30 points on everybody else."
France will be afforded the chance to avenge the group defeat that set them on course for a last-eight encounter with New Zealand when they play Argentina in the third-place play-off on Friday.
Laporte, who will take up a post in the French government at the tournament's end, insists that his choice of the more conservative Lionel Beauxis at fly-half ahead of the mercurial but inconsistent Frederic Michalak was not to blame for France's loss to England at the weekend.
"I do not think we made mistakes as far as the composition of the team is concerned. We were just not able to express ourselves and had trouble putting our game into place," he said.
"When you have lost, you can always have regrets about everything. We had problems putting in place our rhythm, and they knew how to stop us and prevent us playing quickly."