Ibanez praises French comeback
Ibanez has his hands on silverware once more
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Saturday, 17, Mar 2007 09:36
France captain Rafael Ibanez paid tribute to his team-mates' determination to bounce back from last week's defeat against England and clinch the Six Nations crown.
Bernard Laporte's men dramatically took the prize after a late try secured a win over Scotland by the required 24 points in the wake of Ireland's win earlier in the day in Rome.
"I'm very proud of the guys. After last week against England, we showed some character here," he told BBC Sport.
"We needed to work hard and as a team we have too many ups and downs, but today was important for us."
Meanwhile Ireland's coach Eddie O'Sullivan defended his team's decision to press for more points in the dying moments of their clash with Italy.
The choice to keep the game alive backfired as Roland De Marigny scored a try for the Italians to reduce the visitors' winning margin from 34 points to 27.
"In this situation you should never die wondering. We cannot change it now and I would not want to change it. I am very happy with that performance," he said.
Despite finishing at the opposite end of the table to today's opponents, Scotland coach Frank Hadden was magnanimous in defeat.
"Some of the French scores were fortunate, but they deserved to win and to win the championship," he admitted.