Textbook French cruise to win over Gutsy Greeks

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France Men v Greece Men

France played smart, patient football, picking their moments well all game in their opening World Cup clash against a spirited Greece side, who refused to quit in a 34-12 result at Doncaster.

France opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Jordan Dezaria received a crash ball on the Greece line and smashed through two middle defenders to score next to the posts. Arthur Mourgue converted.

Fouad Yaha made a break down the left wing in the 16th minute but he was brought down with a brilliant cover tackle by Lachlan Ilias.

In the 22nd minute Peter Mamouzelos received a late offload and ran up to the retreating French defensive line before grubbering ahead for himself, but he fell over in the traffic.

Two minutes later, France received a penalty and Mourgue kicked a penalty goal.

In the 30th minute, Mourgue grubbered into the Greece in-goal, where Sebastian Sell fumbled his attempt to clean up the kick. Tony Gigot reached outand grounded the ball for a try. Mourgue converted.

France scored again just 5 minutes later when Benjamin Jullien scored off a crash ball play close to the Greece line. Mourgue again converted and France went into the sheds with a 20-0 lead.

France continued the scoring 7 minutes after halftime when Mathieu Laguerre stepped infield and through a huge gap before linking with Mickael Goudemand, who quickly got the ball along to Mourgue, who scored a try under the posts despite a determined try saving effort by Mamouzelos. Mourgue converted his own try.

Greece scored their first World Cup try in the 56th minute when a Jordan Meads grubber to the left side found an unmarked Siteni Taukamo, who regathered and dived over to score untouched. Ilias converted from out wide.

Mourgue added another penalty goal in the 66th minute before Jullien scored again after a crisp passing movement in the 75th minute. Mourgue again converted.

Greece then saved the best for last. Right on fulltime Ilias chipped from inside his own half, to the left wing where Nick Mougios caught the ball on the full, then turned the retreating cover defence of Morgan Escare inside out with good footwork before racing 40 metres to score a glorious try. Ilias added the extras from the sideline.