Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: France crush Samoa at the Stade de France

Sunday, November 22, 2009

France crush Samoa at the Stade de France

France achieved another good win this weekend as they cantered to a 43-5 victory over Samoa at the Stade de France in Paris.

Last weekend they beat South Africa in Toulouse, and this performance, in which they outclassed the Samoans, will give them confidence ahead of their next clash, with the All Blacks.

France were ruthless as they ran in seven tries in total, with three being scored in the first 15 minutes of the match. Dimitri Szarzewski, Vincent Clerc and Yannick Jauzion, got them off to a great start before Thierry Dusatoir and Benjamin Fall added tries to take them to a 33-0 halftime lead.

"My players knew how to cut the Samoans' wings early with an excellent first quarter of an hour's play. New Zealand will be an altogether more complicated proposition than Samoa. We know we have to be performing at our best," said French coach Marc Lievrement.

His captain Sylvain Marconnet added: "We knew this would be a tough match mentally. We're a group that get on well together, we're ambitious. The captain that I am today is satisfied with his troops."

France played with less intensity in the second half, but still managed to score two tries through Francois Trinh-Duc. Samoa got on the scoresheet in the final ten minutes, with a consolation try scored by Iosefa Tekori of Castres.

Time: 06:40
Extra: Join the forum discussion here.

first :)

By No.8, at November 22, 2009 1:40 pm
France on the up, lookng good for 6n. Any chance of getting highlights up for ire v fiji? Some big hits in the last 20

By Tom, at November 22, 2009 1:43 pm
France = world champs 2011

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 1:55 pm
Harinordoquy and Picamoles won't play against NZ, hope that it will be ok.

By Pitseleh, at November 22, 2009 2:35 pm
I'm just loving this French team. Against All Blacks it will be difficult but I have a feeling we will win but we have to see who will be fully fit and available by the end of the week.

2011 = France World Champions! I really hope so ;)

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 2:42 pm
not thatcrushing... i mean its expected from france sure ireland beat Fiji by around the same

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 5:23 pm
Its two more years, relax French, dont get ahead of yourself. Your only winning at home.

WGMDelko

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 8:05 pm
You're right. We're far from being the best team in the world and we mustn't get ahead of ourselves but you have to admit our team is getting interesting. And most of them are young and new players (picamoles, trin duc, david, parra, mermoz...). So prospects are good for the future anyway.
AND we won in New Zealand in summer (the chocolate cup, i grant you, but we had never managed to do this before)

by Maximus

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 8:17 pm
Difficile de tirer quelque enseignement de ce match... si ce n'est le sérieux dont a fait preuve une bonne équipe de France contre une faible opposition.

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 8:28 pm
that was a damn good looking french team out there, trinh duc looked really good on the wing (i think?), really hope they have a run at winning the world cup, would love to see all blacks vs france in the finals...that'd be a match for the century

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 8:31 pm
Unfortunately, picamoles (so far) and harinordoquy are out for the match against the ABs, two of our mightiest forwards.
the match vs the ABs will be very interesting and it would be a feat to win a complete series of tests

by Maximus

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 9:01 pm
France = worse chokers than the All Blacks IMO

Everyone knows on their day they can destroy every team and yet come the World Cup they choke.

Just depends which France want to show up...

87 - WC Final vs NZ
Choked after amazing Semi vs Oz

91 - The toy-throwing France showed up.

95 - Semi vs Boks
Choked at the death after leading the match.

99 - WC Final vs Oz
Choked after amazing Semi vs NZ

2003 - Semi vs Eng
Choked again after some amazing group stage form.

2007 - Semi vs Eng
Choked after amazing Qtr vs NZ

2011 - Another choke!

By HandOfFrog, at November 22, 2009 9:03 pm
95 against SA we were robbed hard.
Now the All Blacks !

C'mon.

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 9:26 pm
Yes, we do tend to choke big time when it really matters but this time I believe it will be different. There is a long long way to go and there is time for much more progress and developement but Marc/Emile/Didier are building this team nicely and we can all see that. Next stop Marseille then 6Nations, just one step at a time but I want them to win the WC in 2011 and the best final would be France v SA!

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 9:40 pm
I think this French team is amazing. Slick backs and solid pack they are real contenders. I'll be supporting them against the All blacks.

By Creatine Junkie, at November 22, 2009 10:29 pm
WOW france came with a solid game plan against my boys!!

How do you counter an aggressive defense?? You kick the ball behind them!!!

3 of their tries were from that alone!! Smart tactic!! Now samoa will be playing on their heels.. waiting for another grubber or up and under!!

The defense around the rucks were horrible too!! No one on the blind-side?? And the hooker scoring off the ruck too, when there was a man right there?? Come on Samoa, those are basics!!

Well best thing to do is to learn from the mistakes!! Poor Lolo Lui is going to be tested again against Itlay!!

Anyways, we're still behind you boys!!

GO MANU!!!

By islandstylin', at November 22, 2009 11:21 pm
Can the refs show some consistency with high tackles? The one on Vincent Clerc was ridiculous! Just because the Samoans were rubbish on that night doesn't excuse everything!

By gman, at November 22, 2009 11:21 pm
HandOfFrog that's just a list of the times we lost in the WC, sure you can interpret them as choking if you want to sound like a douche but you don't have to, most of these times we just lost against better teams. At least Les Bleus gave us some incredible thrills like the 99 semi or the 2007 quarter.
You sound like some bitter Irish dude whose ass is still red from last weeks logical loss in soccer.

Putain ils ont l'air bien en forme les ptits bleus cette année, comme quoi lièvremont est peut-être pas tellement une pipe finalement. Dommage que Fall se soit blessé j'aurais bien aimé le revoir contre les blacks!
Trinh-Duc s'installe tranquillement en 10, et ça ça fait plaisir au Montpellierain que je suis!

By Oli, at November 22, 2009 11:31 pm
France are just not consistent enought to win the World Cup. They will put in a world beating display one week and then be absolutely dire one week later.

By Unknown, at November 22, 2009 11:38 pm
gman

i agree with you.. i think this ref was trying to balance things with the other refs.. lol.. the ones that card islanders for way lesser infractions..

but this was definitely a high tackle.. islander or not!!

By Anonymous, at November 22, 2009 11:47 pm
samoa need to change there centres put eliota at centre with mapusua alesana on one wing with sailosi on the other with david lemi at fullback get a new first five or use uale mai these tries were so easy its not funny and wdf france no.1??? there going to have to play there best if they dont want to get whipped by the allblacks...

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 1:46 am
yeah i think they started faafili because eliota was out with injury.. and just got back.
eliota's d is much better than faafili..
sailosi was out injured..
lemi is good on defense but too small.. the try in wales and this game, the opposite drug him to score.. fullback would be a good option for him..

the forwards, especially ofisa, needs to tighten up their d as well.. how do you let a guy run by you?? wasn't ofisa a wing before? i guess he still has to get used to the position..

hard leasons..

GO DA MANU!!

alu atoa ia ai

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 4:37 am
samoa's try was a knock on.

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 6:47 am
This test was a good performance, but our game is well fitted to beat these kind of team (I mean, teams that are a little bit disorganized).

There was no pressure since first try, so we cannot really tell anything from this game except that this team looks strong and fit.

Can France still play this nice game with a looot of pressure on its shoulder. We'll see against AB

By Ulf, at November 23, 2009 10:23 am
Consistency is what France has been needing for the past 20 years. SO yeah, France is above Samoa and yet it's those kind of games where we usually show overconfidence... in this case, they did the job so it looks promising for the future... as we haven't "choked" so far.
As for the ref, it seems that he was really relative to the score and it shouldn't be that way.... it's a yellow on Clerc and no matter how far you are behind, you deserve to get sinbinned.

By jay, at November 23, 2009 11:54 am
We french have a very homogenous group now, after two years of troubles we're now getting a lot better in every part of the game : scrum(we cruched the boks), touch defense and now Attack with our two new centers : mermoz and David who are able to become the best centers in the whole world. If Trinh duc becomes the flyhalf he has to be then we will be able to win the world cup. In Europe only Ireland and Wales can beat us now, England will pay for the humiliation of february and Scotland has just won a match against Australia with luck. And Italia is getting better but it's no it yet...You should all fear the French team from now on. We will win the next 6 nations.

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 12:41 pm
Anon above, you really sound like a douche. You're an embarassment to your country. I'm french too, and very proud of my team, but i wouldn't be that confident and arrogant. Please don't post comments anymore, you're embarassing your fellow countrymen.

By rodofle, at November 23, 2009 2:25 pm
Agree with you rodolphe.
Ok we beat the boks, it's a good perf. But it definitely doesnt make us the best team.it's nonsense and arrogant to say that. Two years enough before the rwc, things can change for all teams.
btw france progress and they have to become consistent now. to beat the ABs will be the first step... I hope.

By clem, at November 23, 2009 3:01 pm
Well said... et vi cette arrogance de m... sous pretexte d'avoir gagner des tests matchs, ca serait bien de s'en passer, encore plus quand on voit l'hegemonie de certaines nations tendre a disparaitre.

By jay, at November 23, 2009 3:37 pm
Je crois que ce que j'ai été trés mal compris, mon commentaire était une réponse à ceux qui ont essayé d'atténuer voire de banaliser notre victoire contre l'Afrique du sud, qui était annoncée casi-imbattable. Il faut arrêter avec cet espéce de défaitisme ambiant et peut être se réjouir de telles victoires. Ok on est pas champions du monde, ok on a gagné que 2 tests match dont un contre une nation "mineure", mais a l'heure actuelle on pourrait tourner a deux défaites. Au vu des résultats du XV de France ces deux derniéres années on pourrait se réjouir et voire l'avenir sous un meilleur angle au lieu de réagir ainsi. Je n'ai pas dit qu'on serait champions du monde mais qu'on avait le potentiel pour.Désolé de m'être mal exprimé. Au passage va quand même te faire enculer vieux rodolphe, ça fait 20 ans que je joue au rugby et c'est pas une pédale qui peut se permettre de tels commentaires je peux t'assurer que tu mériterais un bon coup de tronche.

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 6:06 pm
shame samoa didnt really turn up on the day

nice attacking display from france

i really hate the guy that first chose marine blue for france instead of the usual royal blue>>because that means for france v new zealand, the all blacks will play in white because the french shirt is so dark !!! thats rubbish, considering australia always play in gold, nz should always stay all black

By luxi, at November 23, 2009 6:40 pm
to Anon above, i understand what you meant but the end of your post is worthy of an incredibly narrow-minded football fan and a disgrace to us, French rugby players.

by Brüno

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 7:31 pm
About the match, the ref was not very good and he was lucky the atmosphere was rather cool. He could (should?) have sinbinned 2 high tackles (1 Samoan who wanted to steal Clerc's head and 1 by Bonnaire), he gave us a try by the forwards (no way he could see the ball in this mess), he gave a try to the Samoans (it's definitely a knock-on, come on he pushes the ball on the ground!) and refused a try by Trinh Duc for an imaginary pass forward.
My vision, of course.

by Maximus

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 7:37 pm
About the match, the ref was not very good and he was lucky the atmosphere was rather cool. He could (should?) have sinbinned 2 high tackles (1 Samoan who wanted to steal Clerc's head and 1 by Bonnaire), he gave us a try by the forwards (no way he could see the ball in this mess), he gave a try to the Samoans (it's definitely a knock-on, come on he pushes the ball on the ground!) and refused a try by Trinh Duc for an imaginary pass forward.
My vision, of course.

by Maximus

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 7:38 pm
Cher anonyme, quand on reprend ton premier post, même si ce n'est pas ce que tu as voulu dire, tu affirmes sans réserve que nous allons gagner le prochain 6 nations et que seuls l'irlande et galles peuvent nous battre. Cela n'a aucun fondement et c'est cela qui est arrogant, surtout quand on sait que nous n'avons plus battu les anglais depuis les matchs de préparation à la coupe du monde 2007, soit 2 ans et demi.

De plus, tout peut arriver dans le rugby : qui aurait parié un centime sur une victoire écossaise contre l'australie? pas grand monde.
Donc il est vrai que l'équipe de France monte en puissance, en cohésion et en qualité de jeu en général, et qu'elle commence à avoir un statut de favorite. Mais je ne pense pas que cela suffise pour être si condescendant vis a vis des autres équipes.

Quand aux insultes homophobes, elles n'ont pas leur place ici à mon avis, même après 20 ans de rugby.

By clem, at November 23, 2009 8:20 pm
J'adore ton côté viril anonyme, tu es extrêmement impressionant.

Non franchement tu es très drôle je ne sais pas trop quoi te dire d'autre, à bientôt peut être anonyme.

By rodofle, at November 23, 2009 8:37 pm
"c'est pas une pédale qui peut se permettre de tels commentaires je peux t'assurer que tu mériterais un bon coup de tronche"

En 20 ans tu en as peut-être pris un ou deux de trop toi

By Joh, at November 23, 2009 8:46 pm
In all sports, Frenchmen are inconsistent. It's almost a religion really. Look at soccer, tennis or anything else.

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 11:06 pm
"in all sports, Frenchmen are inconsistent. It's almost a religion really. Look at soccer, tennis or anything else."

anything else like judo, handball, fencing?

it depends which sport you are talking about.

By Anonymous, at November 23, 2009 11:57 pm
And i dont think our tennis players are inconsistent.
Monfils, Simon and Tsonga have regular good perf.

By Anonymous, at November 24, 2009 12:03 am
So, it would be interesting to actually pull the stats out and compare by nationality across all sports.

What I mean by inconsistent is that they sometimes pull off crazy stuff and then do nothing. Even handball they have serious downs sometimes. Or fencing, there was some disappointment there too. (sure if you take sports with 200 different categories, you'll consistently find a Frenchie in there). Maybe it's only how the French press deals with it. Anyway, in rugby it's legendary, don't you agree?

By Anonymous, at November 24, 2009 12:55 am
Do you think it would be possible to have chabal's tackles against Samoa, they were pretty amazing...

By Anonymous, at November 24, 2009 10:37 am
I totally agree, in rugby we've always been incredibly inconsistent, capable of the best one day and the worst one week later. It's a bit frustrating but i feel this team is different, we'll see that against the ABs. If we succeed in beating SA and the ABs in a row, it will mean that things are changing for the XV de France.

By rodofle, at November 24, 2009 1:11 pm
It's true... Apart from known inviduals...(Perec, Loeb, Reiner, Zidane) inconsistency is our greatest problem in popular sports (football and rugby).
Now take a look at handball, fencing or even Xgames) we are a lot more consistent...
Asmentioned above if we do win vs. the AB... we'll start having a grin on our faces thinking that we're slowly getting there. Now dont' get ahead of ourselves.

Pour les commentaires d'ordre sexuel... passons a autre chose ^^ meme si je constate que la personne a qd meme pris le temps de répondre avec plus de nuances...chose rare sur ce genre de forum.

By jay, at November 24, 2009 1:55 pm
imo, if we lose against the ABs after a good tight game, i will still consider these november tests successful and the French team rather consistent this end of year. Especially if there is a Gran Slam in February.
The Boks lost against Leicester, the Sarries and France. It's hard to say they lacked consistency this year though.
of course i agree the team is known for not being regular but what i mean is losing the last test wouldn't be a catastrophe. Losing a match doesn't mean the team is suddenly crap.
i also agree about the spirit and potential of this new young team: they can be very strong in the future. GO FRANCE!

by Maximus

By Anonymous, at November 24, 2009 6:45 pm
what i mean Rodofle is i feel that things have already changed for the XV de France. As if they were allowed and encouraged to play, at last...
"pas de fautes! pas de fautes! pas de fautes!" d'accord, mais pas que...

by Maximus

By Anonymous, at November 24, 2009 6:52 pm
What happened to Chabal? didnt see him in the highlights, do they show big hits in the match recaps?

By XBHSFlanker, at January 02, 2010 2:23 am