Tempers flare in French win

– Morgan Parra guided a listless France to a 38-18 victory over Tonga in an ill-tempered oneoff Test match at Le Havre’s Stade Oceane on Saturday.

The victory will go some way to avenging the shock 19-14 pool loss

suffered at the hands of the South Sea Islanders at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

But French coach Philippe Saint-Andre will doubtless have much to pore over as his side failed to put away a Tongan team which featured a raft of players competing at a much lower club level than their French counterparts.

Both sides lost a player to a red card after a second-half dust-up as Parra’s metronomical efficiency with the boot kept things ticking over for a French team that outscored the Tongans by four tries to two. –