Phillips: France will be blown away in final

Wales's scrum-half Mike Phillips may hope his dynamic try, gliding between the locks Pascal Papé and Lionel Nallet, will be remembered more than his words of anger and frustration when he joins the French club Bayonne after this World Cup.

"I thought France were poor and they are going to get blown away in the final, it is as simple as that," Phillips said. He added, referring to Sam Warburton's 18th-minute dismissal for a "tip" tackle on Vincent Clerc, "I thought it was the wrong decision by the referee to send Sam off. You put big hits in and people go up in the air – that's the way it is.

"Sam is not a dangerous player. He has shown the world he is a great flanker and he is a player that deserves to be in a World Cup final. France played up on it. It was showmanship and they did their job."

Warburton was the seventh Welshman to be sent off in a Test and the first in 16 years since the hooker Garin Jenkins in South Africa in 1995.