France v South Africa; Australia v New Zealand
Both matches had their expected results, but not by the means expected.
Results:
France 40 South Africa 5
Australia 17 New Zealand 41
France v South Africa
France secured the all-important bonus point with six tries, but their passage through this opening game was far from straightforward.
The Boks’ pack bullied them consistently up front. The French were two light of what I would call their first-choice front row: Agathe Sochat waited her turn on the bench, and Clara Joyeux was preferred to Rose Bernadou at tight-head. These may have been tactical choices, Thomas Darracq wanting to save his big guns for next weekend against England, but the effect was to put the pack under unwanted pressure. Some of Laure Touyé’s throws were off line, and Joyeux folded more than once.
Add to that, the French were guilty of the unforced errors that have marked their play in recent tests. At their best they are a match for anyone, but their inability to put South Africa away as the Red Roses did later with Fijiana Drua is a weakness they haven’t yet thrown off.
Les Bleues started so well, Laure Sansus snapping over the line on four minutes. Even better, Caroline Drouin chipped a delightful little kick over the advancing three-quarter line; Gabrielle Vernier snatched it off the bounce to score.
When scrum-half Tayla Kinsey passed the ball straight to Emilie Boulard, that was a gift she couldn’t resist.
19-0 looked like a launch-pad for great things, but, although they did manage three more tries, they weren’t enough to convince onlookers (future opponents, the crowd, the management?) that they were in full working order.
Once again Sansus was declared Player of the Match. The trouble is, all too much seems to depend on her. She does a great deal of kicking, often without checking how her target area looks. So while some of the kicks were deadly, others were easily pouched by the opposition for dangerous counter-attacks.
The Boks can take great credit for making life hard for their more experienced opponents. But a prime need is to reduce the number of penalties conceded. That problem faced Fiji too, a sure sign of a lack of top-level competition. The contest between the two will be quite fascinating.
Teams
France: 15 Jacquet, 14 *Grisez, 13 Filopon, 12 Vernier 11 Boulard, 10 Drouin, 9 Sansus 1
Deshayes, 2 Touye, 3 Joyeux, 4 Ferer (captain), 5 Fall, 6 Escudero, 7 Mayans, 8 R. Menager
Bench: 16 Sochat, 17 Lindelauf, 18 Khalfaoui, 19 Feleu, 20 Gros, 21 Bourdon, 22 Queyroi, 23 Llorens
*uncapped
South Africa: 15 Roos, 14 Mabenge, 13 Mpupha, 12 Ngwevu, 11 Naamba, 10 Janse van Rensburg, 9 Kinsey, 1 Charlie, 2 Gwala, 3 Latsha, 4 Booi (captain), 5 Mkhari, 6 Solontsi, 7 Mcatshulwa, 8 Hele
Bench: 16 Botes, 17 Ntoyanto, 18 Mazibukwana, 19 Jacobs, 20 Dumke, 21 Tose, 22 Jordaan, 23 Webb
Officials:
Referee: Maggie Cogger-Orr (NZR)
ARs: Sara Cox (RFU) and Kat Roche (USAR) TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
Australia v New Zealand
This game most certainly didn’t go to plan. The last thing the large home crowd expected was to see their favourites leak three tries before they could produce any points. You can call it the pressure of the occasion or sheer carelessness, but when the scoreboard showed 0-17, it was all too reminiscent of the half-time score at Exeter last autumn.
On the right wing, Bienne Terita (2 tries), one of the Wallaroos’ 7s stars, made the Ferns’ back-3 defence look distinctly insecure.
How fortunate that Wayne Smith unearthed some promising attacking material in players called Fluhler, Tui and Woodman! Woodman finished up with yet another hat-trick of tries, as the Ferns at last got their act together. Ruby Tui brought the crowd to its feet with two more tries in the closing minutes.
Of the Ferns’ seven tries five were scored by their talented backs. That indicates where their ultimate strength lies.
The Ferns were helped mightily by two yellow cards shown by Aimee Barrett-Theron, first to Ivania Wong, then to the skipper Shannon Parry.
Once more the Wallaroos displayed skill and heart at a World Cup after almost total negligence by Rugby Australia since 2017.
Player of the Match: Ruby Tui
Teams
Australia: 1. Patu, 2. Talakai, 3. O’Gorman, 4. Naiqama, 5. Lafai, 6. Chancellor, 7. Parry (captain), 8. Hamilton, 9. Batibasaga, 10, McKenzie, 11. Wong, 12. Williams, 13. Friedrichs, 14. Terita, 15. Piliae-Rasabale
Bench: 16. Marsters, 17. Robinson, 18. Karpani, 19. Leonard, 20. Kemp, 21. Morgan, 22. Pomare, 23. Cramer
New Zealand: 1. Love, 2. Connor, 3. Rule, 4. Ngan-Woo, 5. C. Bremner, 6. McMenamin, 7. Hirini, 8. Mikaele-Tu’u, 9. Cocksedge, 10. Demant (captain), 11. Woodman, 12. du Plessis, 13. Fluhler, 14. Tui, 15. Holmes
Bench: 16. Ponsonby, 17. Tangen-Wainohu, 18. Taumata, 19. Roos, 20. Reynolds, 21. Marino-Tauhinu, 22. Tubic, 23. Brunt
Officials:
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SARU)
ARs: Sara Cox (RFU) and Kat Roche (USAR) TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
