France down Great Britain
FRANCE cruised to a 21-0 victory over injuryhit Great Britain to win their first Series gold medal in almost 20 years at the HSBC SVNS in Los Angeles.
The previous victory came in Paris in 2005, and after a long period without celebration, France scored three tries to engrave their name on the trophy in Los Angeles.
Antoine Dupont joined the team in Vancouver last week, and since his arrival, the French have won bronze and gold to move up to fourth place in the series table.
In the third place final, Ireland comfortably beat Spain 24-7 after going into halftime with a 19-0 lead. Elsewhere, fourth-seeded New Zealand lost 12-5 to Samoa in the ninth-place playoff and finished tenth, its worst result of the season.
Great Britain attacked from the start but could not convert their attacking options into points. France was close to scoring but their anxiety played tricks on them. Les Blues would soon score the first score after England’s Tom Emery was injured. France regained possession to score through Antoine Zeghdar.
GB’s injuries had reduced their bench to just one player and they trailed by seven points, but France showed no mercy, showing their handling skills to overcome the GB defense and score their second try to take a 14-0 lead.
The desperation in defense made Morgan Williams want to stop a French attack and he saw the yellow card. GB kept France on the line but couldn’t help but concede a try when Theo Forner scored under the posts to lead and extend the lead to 21.
The silver medal for GB remains by far their best result of the season, improving on their seventh place finish in Vancouver last weekend and putting them within one point of the United States in ninth place in the hunt for safety in the table