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France dominant in World Cup opener

Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images

France have beaten South Africa 40-5 in the opening match at the women’s Rugby World Cup in Auckland.

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Halfback Laure Sansus has scored two tries as France underlined their title credentials with a bonus point 40-5 victory over South Africa in the opening match of the women’s Rugby World Cup at Auckland’s Eden Park.

The match was the first in a triple-header at the spiritual home of New Zealand rugby on Saturday, where a record crowd for a standalone women’s sporting event in the country is expected before the day is out.

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Only a smattering of fans gathered in the 50,000-seat arena at the start of the first Pool C clash, but they were treated to some fine early tries as France, who finished third at the last two World Cups, took a 19-0 lead after 17 minutes.

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Sansus ran through a gaping hole in the defence off the back of a rolling maul, centre Emilie Boulard latched onto a chip ahead from flyhalf Caroline Drouin and winger Gabrielle Vernier ran in an intercept for the third score.

South Africa, playing in their first World Cup since 2014, had some good moments in the scrum and at the maul, but it was not until 10 minutes after half time that they got on scoreboard when winger Nomawethu Mabenge finished well in the corner.

That charged the 11th ranked South Africans with confidence and they repelled attack after attack from the French until a quickly-taken penalty allowed Sansus to breach their line for a second time in the 68th minute.

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Four minutes later and the French were in again after number eight Romane Menager made a break up the middle of the park and found Drouin inside her with an offload, allowing the playmaker to race away and cap her fine performance with a try.

Drouin was not finished yet and her crosskick gave debutante winger Joanna Grisez the simplest of finishes for the sixth try in the last few seconds.

Top-ranked England take on World Cup debutantes Fiji in the second match in Pool C later on Saturday before hosts and defending champions New Zealand face neighbours Australia in the final clash of the day.

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AM 41 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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