Lack of plan and vision cost France... they should have beaten Wales by 20 points and could have won World Cup

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I love French rugby dearly but I am in absolute despair for Les Blues. They should have beaten Wales by 20 points and they could even have won this World Cup but instead they are going home. It’s a tragic waste of talent and opportunity.

Forget about Sebastien Vahaamahina’s sending off for a moment, France should still have won at a canter. 

I spent a large part of Sunday night in a bar with hundreds of Welsh supporters watching the Japan-South Africa game and they couldn’t believe Wales had got away with that one.

Wales' players react after Ross Moriarty scores the match winning try to beat France 

I was also speaking to French legends Thierry Dusautoir and Emile Ntamack and they both did that French thing of shrugging their shoulders in resignation. I’m not sure I could be so philosophical. 

France are badly coached and systemically make bad decisions. As Dusautoir had told me even before the match: ‘We have great players but we don’t have a team’ — which I thought was very telling.

But, ultimately, I don’t even blame coaches, it’s the random way they are appointed.

Vahaamahina's elbow was not spotted by the referee but was investigated by TMO

The French Federation seem to have no plan, they just bounce from one strange in-house selection to another, from Marc Lievremont to Guy Noves, to Jacques Brunel to apparently Fabien Galthie.

There is no plan, quality control or vision. The red card was actually down to bad coaching as much as a player aberration.

France were 19-10 up and rumbling a maul to the line after a lineout, the ball was safe as houses at the back of the maul with Antoine Dupont waiting to pounce. 

The only thing that could have saved Wales was an act of foul play from France.

A well-coached side would never wreck a points-scoring opportunity like that.

Wales had to wait until the final six minutes before Moriarty's converted try saw them win 

On at least three occasions they had a chance to extend the lead to two scores or more with a dropped goal. 

Camille Lopez tried once from too far out. He should have tried again and again. Then there was the attacking scrum on the Wales line when France forgot to put somebody at No 8 and, of course, the ball bobbled out and the position was lost.

Teams train to play shorthanded all the time, it’s part of the game and they must have known that, in such a situation, you pack down eight players and go with a six-man back division.

It just defied belief.