France’s Rugby League World Cup finals dream is all but over after they were hammered by 46 points at the hands of Australia on Friday night in Canberra.
Wade Graham bagged four tries on a dangerous left edge for the Kangaroos as they had their way with the French, who only had 45 per cent of possession for the match.
There was no doubting the bravery of the French, who defended their line strongly at different points throughout the game and made the Kangaroos work for it, but the class difference between the two sides was clear to see.
It took Australia 12 minutes to get on the scoreboard, only coming off the back of a French error on halfway. It was Wade Graham who burst over for the first of his four, with the next coming in the very next set as Australia marched down the field with ease.
When France lost their concentration in defence, it had strong effects, with back-to-back tries happening twice in the first half. Wade Graham scored his third in the 31st minute, before Josh Dugan put on a sensational effort down the left-hand side of the field to add his name to the scoresheet.
In between the two sets of tries, it was French fullback Mark Kheirallah reading an inside grubber from Cameron Smith, designed to have Billy Slater end up under the sticks. Instead, Kheirallah would put up an early contender for try of the tournament as he latched onto the kick and ran the length of the field for the try.
At halftime though, Australia had blown their lead out to 14 points and with France struggling to hang onto the ball or build any pressure on the green and gold, the Kangaroos took no time to build their lead after the break.
Cameron Munster was first over, before Tyson Frizell ran over the top of the defence. He broke three tackles within ten metres of the line to score. Billy Slater scored on the very next set to start blowing the scoreboard out off an inside ball from Michael Morgan who had broken the line.
Graham added his fourth try, before Munster finished with a double and Valentine Holmes capped off the night for the Aussies, bringing up the half-century with a try in the corner.
Australia now take on Lebanon, while France will try one more time to keep themselves in the tournament, taking on England next week. They must not only win, but elevate their for and against higher than that of the Cedars to advance to the quarter-finals, and unfortunately, that looks almost impossible for Les Tricolores.
Australia 52
France 6
Chris
Roar Pro
Another highly impressive representative debut for Munster, albeit against a weaker nation.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Yes tackling in the modern game is almost entirely about first contact being with the upper body -- between the way the dangerous throw is ruled, and the way the refs give nothing for the low tackle in terms of play the ball speed, there's very few benefits to the low tackle.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Is it me or is the modern game more concerned with tackling the upper body rather than the legs? I felt that a good solid tackle around the legs would have stopped or slowed Graham more than enough for other defenders to 'wrap the ball'. Other than Dugan, I wasn't all that impressed with Australia's backs last night. Australia won that match on the back of 50-60m sets through their forwards. France just couldn't keep up and their only real penetration was through adlib attack. Except for that ten minute phase midway through the first half when France actually had some proper ascendency. Did you see all the France officials on their feet in hope during that period? Awesome scenes! I loved it!
RM
Guest
Hard to get a read on players' form across the two games. A lot of the blokes who came in last night, especially in the forward pack, looked much better than the players who were out there last week, but then again, they were only up against France instead of England. Even with that in mind, Graham and McGuire both did their cause no harm at all. In the backs though, I'm not sure that any of the new faces really pressed an irresistable claim to oust their competition for a starting spot. I thought Turbo had a pretty average game, actually. Granted most of the plays all went to the other side of the field but on the occasion where he did get his hands on the ball he never really looked dangerous with it .Mansour didn't do too much either. Munster grabbed a couple of tries and was hard to tackle all night, but I wouldn't call it a commanding performance that demanded selection in the bigger games to come either.