Kopczak takes positives
Post-match reaction to France's 20-6 victory over Wales.
- Related Content
Wales coach Iestyn Harris was left disappointed by his side's 20-6 autumn international series defeat by France in Lens but proud of their battling second-half performance.
The Welsh threatened to spring an upset when full-back David James scored an early try but they were undone by an 18-point scoring burst inspired by man of the match Thomas Bosc just before half-time.
Harris' men will now need to beat tournament favourites England in Wrexham next Saturday to keep alive their hopes of reaching the November 11 final in Salford.
Harris said: "We can be proud of our team. They controlled 10 or 15 minutes in the first half and that's where they got their tries.
"When we got our shapes right, we managed to get into the right areas. There are some areas of our game that we need to work on in the next week before England.
"We have spoken about controlling field positions and at times we lacked that, which is something we need to work on.
"Also we made silly errors but I'm proud of the players and the way they defended for the large majority of the game.
"To put a mainly young side, with a lot of teenagers, into a match against an experienced France who are full-time and to see them play and defend well is something we can be happy with.
"The one thing I know about this group of players is that they will never give in and that is a big characteristic of them.
"I thought France probably had a bit more subtlety than us with the ball in hand and the (half-backs) probably controlled it better.
"There is an argument to say you can do that when you are allowed to play on your terms but again that is something we need to look at."
France missed two clear-cut chances before eventually running in quickfire tries through Cyril Stacul, Romaric Bemba and Bosc to establish an 18-6 interval lead but their only score of the second half was a penalty from Bosc, to add to his three conversions.
Wales had prop Gil Dudson sin-binned for a late tackle on William Barthau that sparked a free-for-all and France captain Olivier Elima admitted his side had been in a physical battle.
"Wales had a big, strong pack who were coming down the middle and it took us 10 or 15 minutes to get into the game," Elima said.
"Once we got into the game we knew we would create opportunities. We managed to score three tries in the last five or 10 minutes and we knew we could do better in the second half.
"There were still plenty of errors but we're happy about the game. Wales were confident and they made plenty of comments before the game. We used those comments in the changing room and we came out firing.
"We knew it was going to be a hard game but we're pleased with our defence, to concede just one try."
Bosc, one of 15 past or present Catalan Dragons players in the French squad, pulled the strings but France coach Aurelien Cologni played down the effect of the Super League experience.
"I'm very happy with my team today," he said. "We created some good breaks in the first half, when our execution was poor, but we showed very good spirit today.
"We showed it's not just a Catalan Dragons group, it's a French team group, and today we worked together."
Click here for a completely free £10 bet with Sky Bet