Punch-drunk French wake up to World Cup hangover

PARIS: France went through the opening phase of the Rugby World Cup like party-goers at a summer disco, but after a weekend of electrifying rugby, the lights were switched back on abruptly and the country woke up on a greyish, crisp autumn morning.

Gone are Les Bleus, beaten 29-28 by South Africa, and gone are the Irish, with tears in their eyes as they stared into their almost-empty pints of beers after the quarter-final defeat by New Zealand.

"To the point of tears", French sports daily L'Equipe wrote in their front page.

"If this morning your coffee tastes like vinegar and that the face you see when you wake up exasperates you, do not just dump everything just yet. It will pass," the paper wrote.

The rest of the tournament will be held in Paris after two quarter-finals were played in the Marseille cauldron and pool games were staged in rugby-mad cities across the country.

Dozens of Irish party-goers are flying home with their team and dreams crushed while the French will clearly stay away from the semi-final that will feature England and South Africa - the two most hated teams in the country.

For a bit of fun, colour and party atmosphere, look no further than Argentina fans, who will rally Paris for the Pumas's clash against the All Blacks, who have very few supporters in France.

Argentineans partying in the streets of the French capital will do little, however, to lift the grumpy Parisians' mood, less than a year after Lionel Messi and co. lifted football's World Cup by beating France in the final.

"If for you it's 'only rugby', it is for us a few seconds of indescribable violence," French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique wrote.

English fans will also be in Paris and the French will be hoping they behave better than those who