Wales coach Warren Gatland has admitted that he considered faking an injury to get uncontested scrums during the semi-final defeat by France.

Wales lost influential tighthead prop Adam Jones early in Saturday's 9-8 defeat, before their captain and openside flanker Sam Warburton was red-carded for an illegal tackle on winger Vincent Clerc.

As a result, inside centre Jamie Roberts was required to slot in at No 6 at scrum time and Gatland admits the thought of faking an injury crossed his mind.

Gatland said: "I will give you an example with what happened after that [Warburton's red card]. We'd already lost Adam Jones, and we discussed in the [coaches] box whether we would fake an injury to one of our props and go to uncontested scrums.

"But morally, I made the decision it wasn't the right thing to do. We could easily have done that in the first 25-30 minutes, but in the spirit of the game, in the spirit of a World Cup semi-final, I didn't think that was the fairest or the right thing.

"I know a lot has been spoken about the red card," Gatland added. "In retrospect, I can understand in any game under the letter of the law there are a number of decisions referees can make.

"I just thought on that occasion, given the significance of a World Cup semi-final, to give a yellow card would have been an appropriate decision. That is why they are appointed as the top referees in the world, because they make the right decisions."

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