France defeated Wales 9-8 to reach their third decider, losing to the All Blacks and Wallabies in the 1987 and 1999 tournaments respectively, in a semi-final that was dominated by defence after Les Bleus seemed to make a conscious decision to merely defend against a 14-man Wales.

Lievremont said he was feeling better despite being angry with his players last night.

"(Now I am) Feeling good,” he said.

"I went to bed in a bad mood, because I'd asked the players not to go out.”

"And I found out that a few of them had gone out. So we spoke about it this morning and I told them what I thought of them.

"I told them they are a bunch of spoiled brats. Undisciplined, disobedient, sometimes selfish. Always complaining, always whingeing.”

Lievremont, who has had a torrid World Cup fending off accusations of team disharmony, admitted in a candid moment that there has been in-fighting for his entire reign.

"And it's been like this for four years," he said.

"It seems to be our way of functioning. I also told them I have a lot of affection for them, but it is a shame they don't look after themselves.

Still, the French coach couldn’t hide his excitement that his team had reached the final, not only the third for the nation, but for the first time in World Cup history a team has reached the decider despite losing two pool matches.

"At the same time we're in the final. And as I said yesterday we have to believe in this destiny."

"We're in the final. We have to believe in this destiny."

"The problem is, we are not world champions yet, we're only in the final. Does it really surprise you, my attitude?"

He cautioned that there were similarities to the French campaign twelve years ago, when Lievremont was a flanker in the team that defeated the All Blacks in the semi-final and reached the final to play the Wallabies.

"This reminds me of 1999," he said.

"In '99 we spent four days celebrating our semi-final win. We didn't prepare properly and I don't want us to relive this same thing."