Although the pain of defeat was etched across the faces of the entire team and management who had seen their dream snuffed out for the second consecutive World Cup at the semi-final stage by England, France were magnificent in the manner in which they handled their loss.

As a nation they were heartbroken and several notable international careers, such as those of Raphaël Ibañez and Fabien Pelous, were probably at an end, but there were no excuses. Instead they praised England.

Bernard Lapasset, the president of the French rugby federation, said: “Deep down we wanted to win so bad. This semi-final was only decided by ten minutes of brilliance by an exceptional player [Jonny Wilkinson], who showed what he could do. Bravo to the English, they deserved their win.”

Pelous accepted his career will end without winning a World Cup. “I’ve lived with that for 34 years,” the lock, who left the field with a rib injury, and is unlikely to feature in the third-place play-off on Friday, said. “I’m sure I will have regrets because in 1999 we could have done it. In 2003, they [England] were stronger but this year, we could have done it.”

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Ibañez wished England good luck for the final, while Thierry Dusautoir and Serge Betsen were equally magnanimous. “It’s a huge disappointment,” Dusautoir said. “It’s the team with the most experience and cool-headedness which won.” Betsen added: “They controlled the match when it mattered most.”

Bernard Laporte, the coach, whose eight-year tenure is over, was also sanguine. “We got some opportunities but didn’t seize them. England deserved to win because they used more opportunities than us,” he said.

The headline in L’Équipe, the French sports newspaper, after France’s win over New Zealand last week was printed in English and read “So French”. Yesterday’s headline said: “ Tellement Anglais”: “So English”.