Although they lost 27-12 to France in Lille on Thursday night, World Cup minnows Uruguay emerged as heroes as they denied their hosts a bonus point and came perilously close to causing a sensational upset.

In the end, France had a little too much experience and nous for the South Americans. Still, Andres Vilaseca and his team delivered a performance that will have some of the other teams in their pool, most notably their next opponent Italy, very worried.

Speaking after the game Vilaseca said: “I’m so proud of my team. I couldn’t ask for a better team to lead. That’s the truth.

“Today, 10 minutes left of the game, we were fighting against France, one of the best teams in the world, playing at their home ground. This is only the beginning for us.

“We fought for the whole game, it was key for us to keep pushing France and keep battling.”

France team manager Raphael Ibanez, speaking to ITV, also paid tribute to Uruguay: “The first thing I would like to say is credit to Uruguay.

“They played with so much passion and heart. It was the second win for us in this competition which was important.

“We made a few mistakes with ball in hand, and it was difficult for us to play with good structure. We didn’t take the points with ball in hand at the end of the second half.

“It’s a World Cup game, we will learn from that. Playing at home gives us a massive boost,” he said.