Serge Betsen is one of the most decorated and well-respected rugby players of the professional era. A three-time Six Nations winner, the flanker was capped 63 times for France over a 10 year period.
However it’s clear a failure to appear in a World Cup final still rankles with the 43 year old. Twice he featured for France in the semi-finals against England only to miss out, first in Australia in 2003 and again in a home World Cup four years later.
Betsen had a major say in the first of those games, scoring the game’s only try after 10 minutes only to then miss out on 10 minutes after he was sent to the sin-bin for a late challenge on Jonny Wilkinson.
With England leading 12-7 after 55 minutes and the game finely poised, Betsen chased down a cross-field kick by Wilkinson before sending the fly-half down to the ground.
The decision proved crucial as Wilkinson kicked a further six points while Betsen was off the field, but speaking at the Off The Ball Roadshow from the Mansion House in Dublin in association with Heineken Rugby Club, Betsen was adamant that Wilkinson did his best to ensure he missed a portion of the game.
“He was lying on the floor for 5 minutes until the referee gave me a yellow card, in a World Cup semi-final. Of course after I get a yellow card he stood up, kicking the drop goals etc and I thought ‘this isn’t football, it’s rugby’".
"It’s true that in that type of game there’s a lot of pressure, it’s a semi-final of a World Cup. But I have to say the fact that he was lying on the floor like he’s dead for a minute, that puts pressure on the referee who has to make a decision. When you put the tackle in slow motion it looks bad to everyone. It was really frustrating. I was crying after the game because when you work hard you put a lot of sacrifices into this moment, so when it went wrong I had to apologise to my teammates because I was so angry with myself."
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