Wilkinson sings France's praises
March 5, 2002

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has added his voice to the chorus of praise for France in the wake of their Six Nations triumph over England.

Wilkinson had been so dominant against Ireland last month that before Saturday's game in Paris, France coach Bernard Laporte rated him "the best player in the world".

But Wilkinson was quickly neutralised by the hosts, who mixed Gallic flair with exemplary discipline to record arguably their most important win since the World Cup semi-final victory over New Zealand in 1999.

"I am never surprised about anything when it comes to the French," Wilkinson told L'Equipe.

"I have a great respect for the French players' immense talent and their ability to beat anyone.

"They played very well, and repeatedly attacked with a lot of determination. Their excellent defence also put a lot of pressure on us.

"They managed to display a game that favoured their strengths."

England were devastated by the 20-15 defeat which deprived them of a Grand Slam for a fourth successive year.

They squandered limited possession after probably going into the game overconfident following impressive wins over Scotland and Ireland.

"I still have no explanation on why our execution was so bad," said Wilkinson.

"We made a lot of mistakes which prevented us from imposing our game on them.

"This is hard to play when you constantly hand the ball to your rivals.

"Instead of attacking we found ourselves reduced to trying to stop the French attacks.

"We put ourselves under pressure and let the French move ahead by 17 points."

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