It was a David versus Goliath scenario when France met Namibia in Pool D of the Rugby World Cup in Toulouse on Sunday and this time Goliath battered David. Les Bleus had began the tournament in disastrous fashion when they lost 17-12 to Argentina in the opening match of the tournament at Stade de France but are now back on track after defeating Namibia 87-10 in what was the biggest win their history.
Namibia virtually lost all hopes of creating an upset against a fired up French team as early as the 20th minute when they were reduced to 14 men after Jacques Nieuwenhuis was sent off for a high tackle on Sebastien Chabal. The French scored a total of 13 tries against Namibia and demolished their opposition in front of a passionate Toulouse crowd.
Cedric Heymans, who had a terrible time against Argentina at full-back, was enjoying his game at the wing and scored ter first try after just 7 minutes. David Marty scored the second try and four conversions by Jean-Baptiste Elissalde meant that the hosts were flying to a 40-3 lead at half time.
After the break, France continued their domination and Elissalde accomplished 7 more conversions to his personal tally of 27 points and although Namibia did manage to provide some resistance and even constructed attacks of their own, they were always chasing shadows after a catastrophic first half performance.
France coach Bernard Laporte is quite satisfied with his team’s display against Namibia on Sunday and says:
We respect the Namibians. They didn’t pose us too many problems though. The team as a whole played very well, especially in the last 20 minutes. We scored many tries. We played to our strengths.
France, Argentina and Ireland are in a three-way fight for the top two spots in Pool D that guarantee qualifications for the quarter-finals. Laporte knows that his side has no scope for any error to creep in when they take on Ireland on Friday but he must also be aware that the four tries that they scored against Namibia have gifted them a bonus point that could well be decisive in who qualifies for the knockout stage from this pool.
Image Source: Scrum
Source: BBC
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