France smash Samoa but lose injured Trinh-Duc

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - France performed a demolition job on Samoa on Saturday, scoring seven tries in a 52-8 romp, but they lost flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc to an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the November series.

France smash Samoa but lose injured Trinh-Duc

(Reuters)





Les Bleus, who thrashed Argentina 27-0 in their previous outing in June, dominated a disappointing Samoa side to boost morale ahead of the tougher home games to come against Australia and New Zealand on Nov. 19 and 26 respectively.

Wing Virimi Vakatawa bagged three tries and Charles Ollivon, Yoann Huget, Gael Fickou and a penalty try added to their tally. Scrumhalf Maxime Machenaud's boot provided 13 points and Jean-Baptiste Serin slotted two conversions.

Samoa's points came from Patrick Fa'apale's early penalty and a second-half touchdown by Rey Lee-Lo at the Stadium Principal.

Trinh-Duc left the field after sustaining a fractured forearm in a second-half ruck and there were other concerns for coach Guy Noves as prop Jefferson Poirot, centre Remi Lamerat and number eight Loann Goujon also suffered injuries.

"Trinh-Duc ... will have to undergo surgery," said Noves. "We hope he will be back for the Six Nations (in February)."





MINUTE'S SILENCE

There was a minute's silence before kickoff in memory of the 130 who died in the Paris attacks on Nov. 13 last year.

After an early trade of penalties Vakatawa went over in the left corner following a neat move.

Machenaud failed to convert but added a second penalty to give France an eight-point lead after 25 minutes.

Wesley Fofana grabbed the ball in a ruck and set up Huget for the second try as the wing ran on unchallenged before Machenaud again missed the conversion.

The third try started 90 metres out when France played a lineout quickly and Fofana foraged through the Samoa defence before offloading to Lamerat.

He found Vakatawa on the left before the ball was swung to the right for Ollivon to score. Machenaud converted and then added a penalty just before the break.

Samoa replied when centre Lee-Lo went past Uini Atonio and dived over.

France then received two blows as Lamerat was replaced by Fickou because of a shoulder injury and Jean-Marc Doussain came on for Trinh-Duc.

Fickou made an almost immediate impact with a try after being perfectly set up by Kevin Gourdon.

Another fine offload by Fofana, who produced a world-class display, started another excellent move by France that ended with Vakatawa's second try in the left corner.

France then added a penalty try before Vakatawa powered through the defence to notch his third.





(Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Tony Jimenez)


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world