Clearly devastated by the 9-8 defeat at Eden Park, Phillips, who scored the only try of the game, refused to blame anybody for the loss despite Warbuton's dismissal and three missed place-kicks that could have won them the game.
"We should have still won it," the 29-year-old told reporters. "France weren't great, were they? They were pretty poor, that's fair enough to say. The boys showed great heart but we were disjointed going down to 14. It's tough to take.
"You've got to take your chances at this level and we didn't, France, even though they've lost two games in the pool and haven't played particularly well, they're in the final.
"This team's a very good team, there's players in this team that deserve to be in the final but that's sport and you can't change these things now."
Phillips grabbed his second try of the knockout stages in similar circumstances to his first against the Irish in the quarter-finals last week -- breaking down the blindside and cutting through tacklers to touch down.
Asked whether he could have touched down a bit closer to the posts to allow Stephen Jones an easier conversion, Phillips was initially lost for words.
"It was a great try," he said. "I done my job, kickers should be kicking, I done my job."
Phillips said he had taken time to have a word after the game with his 23-year-old captain Warburton, who was sent off for a spear tackle in a decision that the former British and Irish Lion described as "harsh".
"I just told him that he's been a great player, it's been a great pleasure playing with him and it's not his fault," he said. "If it hadn't been for him we wouldn't have made it this far, he's led from the front, a big-hitter, I feel sorry for him but it's not his fault."
The Welsh, who were looking to get into a first World Cup final, spent the last five minutes of the match camped on the 10-metre line inside the French half but could not find a way through the blue defensive line.
"It was very tough to take," Phillips said. "We didn't quite take our opportunities, we had our chance to win it in the end but no one's to blame, it's no one's fault, we've just worked so hard, we're a team. It wasn't our day."