Three tries from Yannick Jauzion and an almost faultless kicking display by Toulouse team-mate Frederic Michalak saw France to an ultimately crushing 61-18 victory over Group B rivals Fiji on Saturday.
The two-time World Cup finalists — who led 24-8 at the break — earned a precious bonus point by running in seven tries to the Fijians two while Michalak scored 26 points in an electrifying encounter that saw Olivier Magne and Fijian star Rupeni Caucaunibuca sin-binned for fighting.
”It was a beautiful match for the French backs,” said French skipper Fabien Galthie. ”It was a very good performance, we had some good moves and good momentum.”
Fiji coach Mac McCallion said he was disappointed that his side gave away too many penalties. ”We’re normally good starters, but ten minutes before half-time
they started to run away from us.”
A penalty from Fiji’s Nicky Little straight after the break and a stunning solo effort by Caucaunibuca, illustrating why the All Blacks tried to stop him playing for Fiji, rocked the French and with Little adding the conversion their lead was reduced to six.
However two Michalak penalties restored the lead to 12 and the surge of confidence the Fijians had built up was all but extinguished when Jauzion linked with Tony Marsh brilliantly to go over in the corner for his first — Michalak added the conversion to make it 37-18.
The game descended into a boxing match as the French reacted to a zealous tackle on Michalak and which provoked Caucaunibuca into almost knocking out Magne — the French shrugged that off to score two more tries through Jauzion. Little had struck first for Fiji in the first-half when he made no mistake from in front of the posts to put the Fijians 3-0 up.
However France were level soon after as Caucaunibuca was penalised for not releasing Magne and despite the boos from the crowd Michalak slotted over to tie the game at 3-3. Michalak put France ahead in the 10th minute with another penalty but Fiji roared back as Apisai Naevo pounced to touch down and send a chill down the French spine in the 16th minute.
The French pressed forward with wave after wave of attacks principally through Jauzion but each time the Fijians saw them off until Michalak’s almost unerring boot glided the ball over to give France the lead once again.
Michalak slotted another penalty with 10 minutes to go to make it 12-8 and the French crossed the line when Christophe Dominici sped over in the 33rd minute following neat passes from Fabien Galthie and Nicolas Brusque.
Two minutes later Imanol Harinordoquy showed impeccable timing, having just returned to the field he was the beneficiary of a collective scrum effort to touch down and with Michalak converting it left the Fijians with a mountain to climb at 24-8 down. – Sapa-AFP