Australia racked up 50 points almost effortlessly and easily beat France in the first match of Week 2 of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, but funnily enough France weren’t as bad as the end result shows.
We’re covering the game with the Who, What, Where, When and How of the game from Canberra.
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup is a big deal for us, being huge rugby league fans and love a minnow or two, and we’ll be covering all of the games throughout.
So visit our 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE
Now onto the Australia v France game.
AUSTRALIA v FRANCE MATCH REVIEW
RESULT – Who Won?
AUSTRALIA 52
Tries W. Graham (12), W. Graham (15), W. Graham (31), J. Dugan (33), C. Munster (43), T. Frizell (49), B. Slater (52), W. Graham (66), C. Munster (74), V. Holmes (78)
Goals C, Smith 6 Goals
FRANCE 6
Tries M. Kheirallah (24)
Goals R. Marginet 1 Goal
How Did They Win?
Australia just had too much over the course of the 80 minutes, but heading towards half time an upset was a real possibility with France scoring in the 24th and being the better side until the Kangaroos blew them away with two tries to two minutes.
Either side of the French try, Australia scored in quick multiples, opening the scoring in the 12th minute through Wade Graham, who doubled up on the next set for the Aussies to lead 10-0. The Cronulla forward was the man again down the left as he scored all too easily in the 31st minute and Josh Dugan finished off some beautiful ball movement from the Kangaroos the next set.
The French try was an exciting piece of play as the fullback Mark Kheirallah scooped up a Cameron Smith grubber to run 90m to score. It led to a period of France being on top.
After the break the tries came regularly and with increasing ease as the Aussies left side carved up the French, first handing Cameron Munster a try, who then provided for Tyson Frizell to score. By the time Billy Slater joined in three minutes later down the right side after some good work from Michael Morgan the Aussies were 38-6 and the game was over as a contest with more than 20 minutes left.
France continued to try despite not scoring again, but they were not able to stop the Aussies reaching 50 with Wade Graham getting his fourth, Munster his second, and Valentine Holmes joining in. The end 52-6 flattered Australia a little, but at this stage are doing what they have to do, and beating whoever is in front of them.
What did we learn?
The Kangaroos will probably still win the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
Australia unsurprisingly have plenty of depth, winning this match with multiple changes, including the late withdrawal of James Maloney. Similar to the England game Australia seemed to win easily enough but still somehow not impress a great deal.
The two Camerons impressed. They are at either ends of their careers, but Cameron Smith and Cameron Munster both put on a great display. Smith controlled the game as he so often does, and Munster continues to thrive on all of rugby league’s big stages. Would you select Munster over Morgan/Maloney? Yes.
What was the Moment of the Match?
For a few minutes after France’s only try of the game the French were the better side and it looked as if Australia were in trouble of suffering an embarrassing defeat. The French advantage was quickly and emphatically ended when Australia ran in two tries in two minutes to extend their lead to 22-6 in the blink of an eye. It was the closest the French would get, although they never gave up.
Any other bits and pieces?
- Should the crowd of just over 12,000 be classed as disappointing?
- The French National Anthem is great listening.
- Was the kicking early in the tackle count genius or a little conservative from Mal?
- Olivier Arnaud is in the running for toughest man of the Rugby League World Cup so far, attempting to play on after an awful injury just after half time. Munster noticed and scored a try through Arnaud a set later and the Frenchman then left the field.
- Billy Slater can kick a pretty mean 40-20
- The final Video Referee referral for the week really was poor as Holmes had clearly scored legally and the touch judge was right there.
- France’s halfback Theo Fages impressed again after being one of their best last weekend against Lebanon.
- Brett Kimmorley’s update on the competition’s leading try scoring after Wade Graham fourth try shows how weak his commentary is. Almost crap enough to be poached by Channel Nein.
THE DOWLING-TAMATI #RLWC2017 PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT
We’ve decided that a tournament as big as the 2017 Rugby League World Cup needs a Player of the tournament, and who better than International relations specialists Kevin Tamati and Greg Dowling to name our award.
We award points on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale every match, and the results for this game is below. For the running total from all of the games visit our 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE
5 POINTS – WADE GRAHAM – Continuing his rise as a player of importance by scoring four tries and generally being a nuisance down the left side for Australia.
4 POINTS – CAMERON SMITH – Did what Cameron Smith does best – organising everything and giving the opposition nothing.
3 POINTS – CAMERON MUNSTER – Part of a lot of Australia’s best work, and making the move to Test football has appeared to be no problem.
2 POINTS – JOSH MAGUIRE – Plenty of hard yards and tackles, then took over as hooker to show his versatility.
1 POINT – MARK KHEIRALLAH – the best of a number of good French players on the night and his try was magnifique
MATCH PREVIEW
Who: AUSTRALIA v FRANCE
Where and When: LIVE Friday 3rd November – Canberra
When is it on TV? Channel 7 @ 7pm
What’s the Story?
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup hosts and favourites did the job against England last weekend, but there wasn’t a great deal in it, and the Aussies did what they had to do. Win.
This match sees the first of Australia’s game against the smaller teams. They won’t take it easy, and they shouldn’t as France were quite good despite losing against fellow Pool A lesser light Lebanon.
With a few of the Kangaroos spots still to be decided for the sharp end knockout fixtures, this is a great game to see what the rest of the squad has to offer.
Who Will Win and Why?
Australia should win this, and the main reason is because they have infinitely more rugby league resources at their disposal. No other team can make so many changes from week to week, and have such high quality replacements.
Complacency didn’t seem an issue against England last weekend, and the injection of rookies will only make that better.
And the team still boasts Cameron Smith and Billy Slater amongst others.
Australia by 28
Who to watch for?
The players to watch for Australia are the four debutants being introduced this week to face France, and all of them had superb 2017 seasons and thoroughly deserve their crack for the Kangaroos. Tom Trobjevic, Reagan Capmbell-Gillard, Cameron Munster and Felise Kaufusi all make their debuts this week, coach Mal Meninga taking the chance to give a few of the rookies a run against one of the minnows of Pool A.
For France, two of their best from last weekend’s loss to Lebanon were Bastien Ader and captain Theo Fage.
TEAMS
Who’s in the Teams?
AUSTRALIA
- Billy Slater 2. Tom Trbojevic 3. Will Chambers 4. Josh Dugan 5. Josh Mansour 6. Michael Morgan 7. James Maloney 8. Jordan McLean 9. Cameron Smith (c) 10. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 11. Wade Graham 12. Tyson Frizell 13. Josh McGuire 14. Cameron Munster 15. Felise Kaufusi 16. Aaron Woods 17. David Klemmer 18. Valentine Holmes 19. Matt Gillett 20. Boyd Cordner 21. Dane Gagai
FRANCE
1 Mark Kheirallah 2 Fouad Yaha 3 Bastien Ader 4 Olivier Arnaud 5 Ilias Bergal 6 Remy Marginet 7 Theo Fages (c) 8 Maxime Herold 9 Eloi Pelissier 10 Julian Bousquet 11 Benjamin Garcia 12 Benjamin Jullien 13 Jason Baitieri 14 Thibault Margalet 15 Mickael Rouch 16 Romain Navarrete 17 John Boudebza 18 Lucas Albert 19 Antonio Maria 20 Nabil Djalout 21 Lambert Belmas
