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 TEIVOVO.COM – TEAM FIJI
25 November, 2001
France pile points on sorry Fiji
France ran in eight second-half tries to annihilate a disjointed Fiji team 77-10 in St Etienne on Saturday with Fiji's sole try coming from Fero Lasagavibau after the French had already reached their half-century.
As France steadily improved throughout the 80 minutes, Fiji’s game lacked life, pattern and structure as they gave away tries literally by the dozen.
Fiji kept their hosts scoreless for the first 10 minutes thanks to Ilai Derenalagi’s try-saving tackle on French wing David Bory in the corner. But the French had started to run the ball and always seemed to have an overlap, so it wasn’t long before they registered their first points – flanker Serge Betsen smashing into Derenalagi on the line and just grounding the ball.
Gérald Merceron booted the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
For the next quarter of an hour, Fiji held their own, but didn’t really look capable of scoring. Too often, the ball would be passed along a static line with no sign of any penetration as Fiji in possession were constantly pushed backwards.
Though Ifereimi Tawake’s boys put in tackle after tackle to contain the energetic French, Fiji threw away their own possession with carelessly dropped balls and knock-ons.
Their lack of game plan shone through clearly in the 18th minute when fullback Waisale Serevi attempted a dropped goal from 45 metres out that only just made the French 22.
Ten minutes later, halfback Fabien Galthié scored France’s second try, Betsen stealing the ball in a tackle and setting up his team-mate.
Fiji also rode their luck somewhat. On the half hour, Christophe Dominici had a try ruled out for a forward pass, and twice the French failed to ground the ball having reached the Fiji line.
Vili Satala saved Serevi’s bacon by holding up Bory on the line after the Frenchman had brushed Serevi aside with ease.
Star winger Vilimoni Delasau limped off 10 minutes before the interval to be replaced by Lasagavibau.
Merceron picked up a penalty goal to make it 17-0 going into first-half injury-time, and that’s the way it looked likely to stay. But two killer tries before the half-time whistle knocked the stuffing out of Fiji, and they lost all hope of staying in the game.
Missed tackles became the norm, with few Fijians innocent. Satala, Jope Tuikabe and Big Bill Cavubati were exceptions, putting in numerous hits that had the French crowd oohing.
The ageless Tuikabe, while covering more ground than those around him, also took the line-out throws in the absence of the injured Isaia Rasila.
All hopes of Fiji making a comeback after the break vanished 11 seconds into the second half when Magne gathered the kick-off and trotted through to the Fiji line untouched.
Serevi, for all his magic in the earlier games, looked out of his depth at fullback, and probably would have been more suited to fly-half.
The French tries came every few minutes after that as the hosts’ score climbed and climbed to record levels. Indeed, this was Fiji's worst-ever defeat against anyone, eclipsing the 71-5 loss to New Zealand in 1997.
In the space of four playing minutes, two either side of the break, France took their score from 17-0 to 41-0.
Fiji got brief respite in the 48th minute through a Nicky Little penalty goal.
But the French tries kept coming.
After Lasagavibau’s try, an excellent move that he began himself in his own 22 with a kick and chase, French coach Bernard Laporte threw on all seven replacements in one go.
A chance maybe for Fiji to counter with so many new faces entering the game at one time? Sadly, the replacement players scored four more tries.
So France made it three wins out of three against southern hemisphere opposition, having beaten South Africa and Australia on previous weekends.
As for Fiji, huge questions must now be asked of the FRU. Their shoddy amateur decision to force former coach Greg Smith out in June over a minor personal disagreement is now being felt by one and all, especially the players.
France 77 Fiji 10
Stade Municipal, St Etienne
Half-time: 29-0
Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
France: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Christophe Dominici 13 Tony Marsh, 12 Damien Traille, 11 David Bory, 10 Gérald Merceron, 9 Fabien Galthié (captain), 8 Patrick Tabacco, 7 Olivier Magne, 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Thibault Privat, 4 David Auradou, 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Raphaël Ibañez, 1 Jean-Jacques Crenca.
Replacements (all used in 60th minute): 16 Yannick Bru, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20 Frédérick Michalak, 21 Nicolas Jeanjean, 22 Aurélien Rougerie.
Tries by Serge Betsen (2), Fabien Galthié, David Bory, Clément Poitrenaud, Aurélien Rougerie (2), Christophe Dominici (2), Nicolas Jeanjean, Olivier Magne, Jean-Baptiste Poux. Conversions: Gérald Merceron (7); Penalty goal Gérald Merceron.
Fiji: 15 Waisale Serevi, 14 Marika Vunibaka, 13 Vili Satala (Jonetani Waqa 77), 12 Ilai Derenalagi (Emori Tuisese 71), 11 Vilimoni Delasau (Fero Lasagavibau 30), 10 Nicky Little, 9 Sami Rabaka, 8 Alifereti Doviverata (captain), 7 Jope Tuikabe, 6 Mesake Davu (Sisa Koyamaibole 58), 5 Emori Katalau, 4 Isoa Domolailai, 3 Bill Cavubati (Richard Nyholt 79), 2 Paula Biu, 1 Henry Qiodravu (Apisai Nagi 77).
Try: Fero Lasagavibau; Conversion: Nicky Little; Penalty goal: Nicky Little.
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