PARIS (AP) — Fans at Stade de France treated England's players to hostility at the Rugby World Cup on Friday, continuously jeering and whistling during the third-place match against Argentina.
The treatment started before kickoff when the lineups were announced for the consolation prize that England won by just prevailing 26-23.
With England still in the dressing room, almost every player's name was booed and whistled by spectators.
Proceedings started with some early tactical kicks from England captain Owen Farrell. And guess what? He was booed and whistled.
Fans then started to sing “La Marseillaise.” French fans regularly sang the national anthem during other team’s matches throughout the tournament. On Friday, they did it when Farrell was lining up his first penalty.
As Farrell concentrated on the teed up ball, fans again whistled, despite the message on the stadium screens urging fans to “respect the kicker.” Farrell, who became England’s highest scorer of all time earlier in the tournament, was unfazed and put his side ahead.
The rivalry between England and France is one of the best in world rugby, an annual occurence in the Six Nations and frequent enough at the World Cup — with England knocking out Les Tricolores in the semifinals on the way to victory in 2003 and again when it reached the final in 2007.
But the teams did not play each other at this World Cup and it was difficult to understand why the spectators were so antagonistic since the jeers came from stands hosting apparently neutral fans.
Farrell smiled wryly when asked if he was surprised about the reception he got.
“No, not surprised. It's usually like that here when you're playing against France,” he said. “They don't normally cheer you when you're having a shot at goal. So it's a bit different here in France than it is in England when a kicker takes a shot.”
The whistles rose again after Ben Earl scored England’s first try. Once again, Farrell ignored the noise to convert it as England built a 10-0 lead. After Farrell made it 13-0, the whistles started to fade as the English lead grew, or as spectators they couldn't affect Farrell, who landed all of his six goalkicks.
One of the pitchside interviewers who engaged with fans before the game and at halftime, remarked to one fan how some of the crowd appeared to be against England.
Early in the second half, fans broke out into a loud chant of “Allez Les Bleus” — one of the favorite chants in support of the French rugby team but on a night when Argentina played in its change strip of all blue.
In another sour moment, veteran scrumhalf Ben Youngs, playing in his national record-extending 127th and final test match for England, was whistled too when he was replaced by Danny Care in the 51st minute.
Much of the crowd had already streamed out of the stadium when the bronze medals were handed out to England's players by World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont.
It was the second straight weekend with a disgruntled crowd.
New Zealand referee Ben O’Keeffe was roundly jeered and booed when he stepped onto the field to referee the semifinal between South Africa and England. O’Keeffe was perceived by local media and fans to have been at fault with his decision-making in France’s 29-28 quarterfinals defeat to the Springboks.
Host France started the tournament with an exciting 27-13 win against three-time champion New Zealand but the narrow defeat to South Africa — and the rancour shown toward O’Keeffe — lingered at the South Africa-England semifinal.
France has lost in three finals and its defeat in the quarters squandered a great chance at home to finally win the Webb Ellis Cup.
Hostile crowds in Paris have manifested themselves in tennis at the French Open and the Paris Masters. At this year’s Roland Garros, an exasperated Taylor Fritz was booed and whistled relentlessly during his victory over French player Arthur Rinderknech. At the Paris Masters in 2021, then-18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz was unfairly jeered during a defeat against Hugo Gaston in 2021.
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AP Rugby World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
