France took on the USA in a Pool C clash at the Fukuoka stadium.
Both teams came into the match having won all their prior games, with France on course to top the group going into their final match against table toppers England in 10 days time.
A moment’s silence was held before kickoff to commemorate the date of former French President Jacques Chirac.
Following the anthems, the game began and just five minutes into the contest France grabbed the lead with a converted try. After a slick chip over the defense by Camille Lopez, Yoann Huget scooped the ball to finish past the posts with a dive. Thomas Ramos converted to give the French an early 7-0 lead.
6 – Yoann Huget has scored six Test tries so far in 2019, the most by a France player in a calendar year since 2011 when Vincent Clerc crossed nine times. Magnifique.
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) October 2, 2019
France 33- 9 USA: Watch highlights below
19 mintes in and France conceded a penalty which the US capitalised on as AJ MacGinty added three points for the US to open their account for the game.
23 minutes in however and France restored their lead after brilliant work from Lopez to smack a pin-point cross across the field for Alivereti Raka who collected to score.
29 minutes in and France conceded their 8th penalty of the game and MacGinty promptly added the three points for the Americans. The score read 12-6 as halftime arrived and the stats showed the US had the majority of the possession in the first half with 55% and 79m made compared to France’s 162m.
The second half kicked off and 64 minutes in, USA had another penalty and once again MacGinty stepped up to convert for a score of 12-9. Just two minutes later however, and France pulled clear with a converted try. The French exploited space out wide as Gael Fickou shook off Tony Lamborn to score. 19-9 to France it stood.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes, the game was done and dusted and France garnered their fourth try of the tie and secured a bonus point in the process. Baptiste Serin did the honours following a cross field kick to open up space. Lopez converted for a score of 26-9.
And then with just a minute left in the encounter, France got their fifth and final try of the afternoon after a rolling maul from which Jefferson Poirot scored. Lopez got the extras for a final scoreline of 33-9 as the whistle blew for full-time.
As so it finished at Fukuoka. At times, this was quite a low quality game, with neither side able to build phases or possessing a gameplan for when in possession of the ball and committing errors to lose momentum. The USA and MacGinty in particular put up a brave fight but eventually France’s superior skills and experience prevailed. Victory for France sets up a tasty encounter with England in 10 days’ time to decide the winner of the group. USA meanwhile face off against Los Pumas next.
Speaking to the BBC after the match, US winger Blaine Scully said:
“We wanted to be there at the very end but unfortunately a few too many turnovers on our side were punished. We want to be testing ourselves in the best competition against the best countries in the world. Hopefully we will be better next week.”
He ran the show for @FranceRugby with three try assists, to become the @Mastercard Player of the Match for #FRAvUSA, congratulations to Camille Lopez! #POTM #StartSomethingPriceless #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/XLX0hnztIf
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 2, 2019
