Wedstrijverslag 23-11-09 | RCG D - BOC D

Parijs: France beats Samoa 43-5

France raised expectations of its rugby clash with New Zealand next week by outgunning Samoa 43-5 at Stade de France on Saturday.

The French started their autumn campaign by downing world champion South Africa 20-13 in Toulouse, then debuted two in making a dozen changes and were still too good for Samoa, running in seven tries to one. They led 21-0 after 13 minutes and 33-0 at halftime.

Despite the convincing win against a side that narrowly lost 17-13 to Wales last week, France coach Marc Lievremont downplayed the importance of the result.

"We don't want to get too carried away," he said. "It's reassuring and it's comfortable. But we only will be a great team when we will have the status of favorites (against the All Blacks) and that we will be able to defend it on the field. I hope we won't have to wait too long for this."

France toured New Zealand in June and finished that series 1-1, with a first win in New Zealand in 15 years. The All Blacks will arrive in Marseille unbeaten on their European tour after defeating Wales, Italy and England.Prop Sylvain Marconnet, who captained France for the first time, was happy his side was able to build on the momentum of its win against the Springboks.

"It's a good result because after a big match we usually have the tendency to relax," Marconnet said. "But we worked very hard the whole week and now we want to achieve a grand slam in this autumn tour. I'm very proud of the lads."

France was meeting Samoa for only the second time _ the last was 10 years ago _ and took only three minutes to hit the front when hooker Dimitri Szarzewski barged over. Four minutes later, fullback Maxime Medard set up Vincent Clerc's 22nd try.Under heavy pressure, the Samoans conceded again in the 13th after flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc cleverly chipped the ball over the defense for Yannick Jauzion to touch down.Samoa's Lolo Lui and Fa'atonu Fili missed three penalty kicks combined in the first 25 minutes.

Captain Thierry Dusautoir's try in the 28th was confirmed by TV replay, and winger Benjamin Fall celebrated his debut with a try in the 36th when he latched onto Julien Bonnaire's kick.

France's concentration let up in the second half, but the defense didn't.

Scrumhalf Morgan Parra offloaded to Trinh-Duc to score in the 60th, missed the conversion and was replaced by Julien Dupuy.Trinh-Duc scored his second try and France's last seven minutes later after Fall counterattacked from a bad clearance.Replacement Jo Tekori earned Samoa a consolation try nine from the end. France: 43 (F Trinh-Duc 2, D Szarzewski, V Clerc, Y Jauzion, T Dusautoir, B Fall tries; M Parra 4 conversions. Samoa: 5 (I Tekori try) Verder was het erg gezellig op het buiten terras in Parijs samen met het 35plus genootschap van Eemland en waren de VIJF ( Siegrid, Siska, Maloe, Nicol en Monique ) mooi op tijd terug om zelf nog een wedstrijd te spelen tegen BOC. Die veel beter werd gespeeld dan vorige week.Sommige aanvallen waren uit het boekje perfect uitgevoerd. De dames hebben dus ook weer gewonnen en zetten de stijgende lijn in ontwikkeling en winnen door.

Op naar volgende week.

Rugby Salut,

Monique