France coach Thierry Janeczek lamented his home union's lack of commitment to the sevens game and was unable to hide his disappointment after his men crashed out of the Plate competition.
An uncertain performance against Korea earlier in the day didn't bode well for the tricolour's chances, and when Kenya brought out their best game, the team were found wanting, suffering a 24-14 loss in the semi-finals.
'Our performance was not good,' said Janeczek. 'All the teams bring players who know sevens, but France brings a new team every year and we have to learn all over again. It was a very bad performance against Kenya.
'I knew before we came here that it would be hard to do well, because the team is so new. They have never played together before now.'
Unlike in smaller rugby playing nations, there is less willingness to develop the short-sided version of the game in France. Janeczek's squads are selected from players outside the country's top-flight league and he gets little support from the top clubs.
Despite this, the coach achieves respectable results and moulds capable teams. Last season France famously beat England at the World Cup in Hong Kong. Soon after, they won their first ever IRB series title, in Paris. But few from that team were in the line-up this time. The skills of Renaud Dulin and Patrick Bosque, and the power of Julien Malzieu and Jerome Naves were sorely missed.