France given a scare before winning comfortably

France were given a proper scare by the USA, but held on and scored two late tries to win their Rugby World Cup pool C match comfortably 33-9 in Fukuoka on Wednesday.

Flyhalf Camille Lopez put in an inspired performance to set up the first two tries and assisted in a third as the French found the going tough in the middle part of the game, only to recover well to finish strongly in the end.

But it was the fightback by the USA after going 12-0 down and dominating the middle part of the game to claw their way back to 12-9 that raised eyebrows before France shifted gears to score three late tries for a comfortable win.

For a while, it seemed that the USA may be able to score a similar upset to that which Japan pulled off against Ireland, but the French power game was too much for them in the end and counted when it mattered.

Lopez was in awesome form in the game and controlled the match excellently for a deserved man of the match award. His opening salvos – a chip over the defence that found Yoann Huget and then a perfectly weighted cross-kick for Alivereti Raka, gave the French the perfect start to the game and put them 12-0 up early on.

But then the Americans found some confidence and their pack found some go-forward ball and started to upset the French. Growing in confidence, they looked to their flyhalf AJ MacGinty to slowly find a way onto the scoreboard.

One penalty became two as the French looked frustrated by halftime to be 12-6 ahead at the break, and it became tense as MacGinty pulled back another on the hour mark to make it 12-9.

But the French bench came on and made a massive difference, speeding up the game and finding holes in the American defence, and hit back twice in three minutes to take the game away from the Eagles.

It was midfielder Gael Fikou who eventually found the hole after several phases of attack to put the French comfortably clear.

And when Raka gathered a perfect high kick from Lopez to put Baptiste Serin away to score, the game was over bar the shouting.

Jefferson Poirot went over from a rolling maul to cap a perfect finish and move them closer to a playoff place.

Scorers:

France – tries: Yoann Huget, Alivereti Raka, Gael Fikou, Baptiste Serin, Jefferson Poirot. Conversions: Camille Lopez (3), Thomas Ramos.

USA - penalties: AJ MacGinty (3)