David Skrela admitted his poor kicking made him "100 percent responsible" for France's 18-13 loss to Australia.
"I'm horrified," says France fly-half of his poor place kicking during defeat to Australia
David Skrela admitted his poor kicking made him "100 percent responsible" for France's 18-13 loss to Australia on Saturday.
The Toulouse stand-off missed five of six penalty attempts, a simple drop goal and was sin binned four minutes from time for a high tackle.
His performance earned jeers from the Stade de France crowd and left Skrela "frustrated and disappointed" for his team-mates.
"It is one of the worst evenings of my career in a blue shirt, along with the opening match of the World Cup last year (the defeat to Argentina)," he said.
"A kicker can also win a game for his team but that wasn't the case against Australia. These are hard moments for me.
"I am 100 percent responsible for this defeat. When you are a kicker, you have these bad evenings but it's still a hell of a blow to the morale. I am horrified.
"I must return to training and I must bounce back."
In the first five minutes, Skrela missed a straight 30-metre penalty and skewed a drop goal effort wide from under the posts when under no pressure.
By the time he missed successive penalties in the last seven minutes of the first half, the crowd had begun to make their feelings known.
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The boos got worse in the second half when he missed two shots at goal in the space of two minutes, when Australia were 15-13 up.
"When you see your first then the second attempt pass by the post, you start to ask yourself questions," he added.
"You then try to modify your striking but then you just collapse."
Asked why he did not hand over kicking duties to replacement Damien Traille, Skrela added: "I didn't ask him - I assume my role until the end."
France coach Marc Lievremont offered his support to Skrela, who he said was "usually a great kicker".
"Clearly, we put a helping hand around him," said Lievremont.
"Apart from his kicking, he played a great match. The idea is more to comfort him than to blame him.
"Sometimes this is what happens in rugby. It is part of the game but we had the ability to win this match. It hurts but it's like that."
Clean sweep
Australia now head to Cardiff to play Wales next weekend and - having already beaten Italy, England and France - have the opportunity to complete a sweep of a four-Test tour to Europe for the first time in 12 years.
They took a 10-0 lead in Paris, largely against the run of play, through Matt Giteau's 29th-minute penalty and a converted Stephen Moore try moments later.
France were granted a life line when they won a penalty try in the first half's last act, and a Skrela penalty and a Maxime Medard drop-goal put them in front for the first time, with 28 minutes left.
But with Skrela's kicking woes continuing, the Wallabies made hay, Peter Hynes touching down an opportunistic score and Giteau landing another penalty.
Man-of-the-match Giteau appreciated what opposite number Skrela was going through.
"I remember back in 2004 when I kicked against France in Brisbane, and I kicked two from eight back then," he said.
"We played well and ended up winning the game so it didn't make too much of a difference. So I can sympathise with him a little bit but I suppose I'm glad he missed.
"It builds pressure on you when you can't convert those easy points. A side can easily get frustrated because you missed a chance to put pressure on your opponents.
"It was a disappointing night for him."
