France team manager Raphael Ibanez will “have a long talk” with Mohamed Haouas after the prop’s first-half red card in the Six Nations defeat by Scotland.
Haouas was dismissed for striking Jamie Ritchie in the face as Scotland won 28-17 to end France’s quest for a Six Nations Grand Slam at Murrayfield.
The visitors led 7-6 after 37 minutes when Haouas was ordered off after punching Ritchie amid a mass melee.
“What can I say? It’s really disappointing,” Ibanez told BBC Sport.
“We know at this level you cannot react badly. This is what he did, obviously we’ll have a long talk and hopefully he can improve in that department.
“I haven’t spoken to him yet. Sometimes it’s much better as a director of rugby to let him go and talk maybe tomorrow about what happened.
“He wants to do his best for the team but he has to learn a few lessons.”
Damian Penaud’s try had given France a slender lead, despite an early sin-binning for flanker Francois Cros.
After Montpellier tight-head Haouas’ dismissal, Scotland scored on the stroke of half-time and ran in two more tries to effectively kill the contest.
France, who had beaten England, Italy and Wales, were uncharacteristically error-strewn and slack, and unable to snatch a losing bonus point after Charles Ollivon crossed late on.
“Unfortunately we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win,” former France captain Ibanez added. “We played for almost 55 minutes with a man down, which is too much on the international stage.
“I don’t think the Grand Slam weighed heavily on the team. It’s down to Scotland, they played with a lot of intensity. And on our side, things went totally the opposite to how we wanted.
“That’s rugby, we are still a young team and we have got to learn from that.”
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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