France - Rugby World Cup Team Stats

France have never been world champions but are the only team to have been runners-up twice.

France have never lost their opening match, wining four and drawing one.

France are aiming to become the third host nation (after New Zealand in 1987 and South Africa in 1995) to win the tournament on home soil.

France have never lost a group match.

France took part in the only ever drawn game in the world cup, 20-20 v Scotland in 1987.

Most tries in a tournament by a Frenchman is 6 by Jean-Baptiste Lafond in 1991.

Christophe Dominici has scored 6 tries in the last two tournaments and will be looking to become the top French world cup tryscorer of all time in 2007.

Five Frenchmen have scored a hat trick of tries in one world cup match – Rodolphe Modin,Didier Camberabero, Jean-Baptiste Lafond, Ugo Mola and Brian Liebenberg.

Thierry Lacroix with 124 is the highest French points scorer in the world cup.

Lacroix also holds, with Gavin Hastings,Gonzalo Queseda and Matthew Burke, the distinction of kicking a world cup record 8 penalties in one match, against Ireland in 1995.

Didier Camberabero, who scored a then record 30 points in a world cup match in 1987, still holds the French points in a match record.

Christophe Lamaison is the only Frenchman to drop more than one goal in a world cup match with 2 against New Zealand in 1999.

France have never had a player sent off in a world cup match but Olivier Magne, Sebastien Chabal,Christophe Dominici, Raphael Ibanez and Serge Betsen were all shown yellow in 2003. This is the highest number of yellow cards for any team playing in the competition.

The 70-12 victory against Zimbabwe in 1987 is still their highest ever world cup score.

They have only lost 6 times in the world cup, the heaviest defeat being the 40-13 loss to New Zealand in the 2003 play-off for third place.

France only need 32 points to reach the milestone of 1000 points in world cup history.

Fabien Galthie is one of only 7 men to date to have played in 4 world cup tournaments and along with Abdel Benazzi has played in a record 15 world cup matches for France.

Brothers Thomas and Marc Lievremont played together for France in the 1999 world cup.

French 2003 scrum half Dmitri Yachvili’s brother Gregoire also played scrum half for Georgia in the same world cup.