Vakatawa hat-trick for battered French
FRANCE kicked off their autumn campaign with a slick but bruising win over Samoa in Toulouse last night.
Les Bleus, who for the first time went into a November Test on the back of a two-week camp thanks to the newlysigned convention between the clubs and the federation, looked well-organised in attack and managed to find plenty of gaps in the Samoan defence to score seven tries in the end.
Wesley Fofana and Remi Lamerat did most of the damage in midfield while Sevens star Virimi Vakatawa helped himself to a hat-trick.
The other tries came from Yoann Huget, Charles Ollivon and Gael Fickou but it will be the doctors who will be busy in lead up to France’s second Test against Australia next week.
Squaring up against the hugely physical Samoans, they lost no fewer than five players including fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc to a suspected broken arm.
“We’re happy with the win even if we let some points out there,” said captain Guilhem Guirado.
“The other big problem for us is the amount of injuries we picked up.”
Samoa made a good start to the game keeping hold of the ball and even if the French defence was in place, a penalty against Vakatawa at the breakdown, gave Patrick Fa’apale the opportunity to open the scoring.
But a dangerous, and late, tackle on French captain Guirado saw Samoa penalised and Maxime Machenaud levelled matters from the tee.
Two minutes later, Vakatawa proved he was up to speed despite not playing a single game since the Olympics with the Sevens national team with a double left step to score in the corner and put France in front.
Machenaud missed the conversion from the touchline but a penalty ten minutes later put France 11-3 ahead.
Soon after, Fofana ripped the ball from the grasp of Alafoti Fa’osiliva and, with a sublime offload, found Huget who raced in untouched from 40 metres out.
Machenaud was once again off target with the extras but France were building a comfortable lead.
Two minutes later, Fofana launched a long-range attack and after a handful of passes, it was Ollivon, off the bench early to replace Loann Goujon, who dived over the line for the hosts’ third try.
Racing 92 scrum-half Machenaud converted this time and even added a penalty for France to go into the break with a 23-point lead.
As in the first half, it was Samoa who scored first as Reynold Lee-Lo reduced the gap with a try that was initiated by a fine break from Fa’apale in midfield.
With a host of changes, the game lost a bit of its shape but it was France who got back up to speed first as they scored their fourth try.
From a well-drilled lineout, a superb line from Kevin Gourdon laid Fickou’s try on a plate which, with Machenaud’s conversion, made it 33-8 just before the hour.
France had Samoa on the ropes and Fofana burst through the midfield from a solid scrum before finding Scott Spedding and the fullback sent Vakatawa in for his second try in the corner.
France were not done yet, however, as the pack completed a fine display by winning a penalty try at the scrum before Vakatawa completed his hat-trick late on.