Agar will wait and see on France role

Richard Agar is unsure whether he will remain as France coach, but said they achieved what they had set out to by reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

A narrow opening victory over Papua New Guinea proved enough to get out of the group stages, although that was followed by defeats to New Zealand, Samoa and England, and they only managed three tries in the whole tournament.

They battled well against England in the last eight, going down 34-6 at Wigan, after taking an early lead through Vincent Duport.

Agar said: “It was probably the story of tournament. We played bravely and courageously and opened them up on a number of occasions, but we just weren’t clinical enough to finish the chances.

“The application and professionalism of the players has been fantastic, we were in an extremely tough group and we got out, OK with a narrow win.

“We achieved what we wanted to, and from that point of view, that was a result for us.

“We would have liked to have been closer in a few games, particularly last week against Samoa, but the games in France have been a major success in terms of the publicity generated, the profile, stadiums and atmospheres on the night, and I think the only question mark around the national team going forward is how do they increase the player pool.”

Agar was appointed as part-time French boss earlier this year, succeeding interim coach Aurelien Cologni.

When pressed over his future with Les Chanticleers, he said: “I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve not spoken to Carlos (Zalduendo) or my club yet, so if they wanted me then I would have to ask my club.

“Either way, I’d support whichever decision they wanted. I’ll have to speak to all parties involved over the next year and see what they’ve got in terms of programming, because I’ve got a fairly big job on my hands at Wakefield.”