France qualify for quarter-finals after Cup cliffhanger
KUMAMOTO: France qualified for the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals yesterday with a nailbiting 23-21 win against Tonga that sets up a winner-takes-all clash with England to top Pool C.
First-half tries by Virimi Vakatawa and man-of-the-match Alivereti Raka were enough to secure the win for Les Bleus against a spirited Tongan side that competed throughout a tense encounter at the Kumamoto Stadium.
Tonga topped the try-scoring count three-two against a French side that again produced a stop-start performance as they did in their first two games against Argentina and USA.
“We suffered again for yet another match,” grumbled French coach Jacques Brunel.
“We started well, we missed a lot of chances to stretch the gap. We missed three or four chances and then we tightened up. There was tension, errors, we cannot manage the second half, especially at the start,” added an unhappy Brunel.
It was three penalties by Romain Ntamack that got France through to a quarter-final likely against either Wales or Australia from Pool D — although Fiji still have a mathematical chance of a last-eight spot.
“We’ve qualified, first and foremost. It wasn’t easy,” Brunel added. “I’m not worried, but I’m unsatisfied. We had chances to score heavily in the first half but made handling errors because we rushed things. It’s down to tension.”
The famous French flair was on display for the first six minutes as they raced to a 10-0 lead, roared on by a loud chorus of “allez Les Bleus” from the crowd.
It was to prove an important buffer as Tonga fought back to trail by only three points at 17-14 early in the second half with the heavier Pacific island pack troubling France at scrum time.
“We started poorly. If we had started well we could have won the game,” Tonga coach Toutai Kefu said.
While England motored through their first three matches, it has not been as easy for an inconsistent France who have been hit hard by injuries and were starting their third half-back pairing in as many matches with Baptiste Serin and Ntamack.