Fiji destroyed by French set-piece

France…………… 44pts Fiji…………………….. 0pts

By MARK DOCHERTY

FRANCE emphatically booked a quarter-final spot with a seven try to nil victory over Fijiana in Whangarei, thanks mostly to their pack's obliteration of the Fijian set-piece.

“Last week we were really good in defence, but we didn't really get going in attack, so this week we really wanted to put our attack in place and that's what we did. That puts us in a really good place for the quarter-finals,” France back row Manae Feleu said.

Captain Gaëlle Hermet and World Rugby Player of the Decade Jessy Trémoulière were among 11 changes from France's 13-7 defeat to England, in which Six Nations Player of the Year Laure Sansus was ruled out for the rest of the tournament.

Fijiana needed two bonus points at the very least to progress to the last eight, but their failure to trouble the scores sent them home from their first ever World Cup.

France opened the scoring through Marine Ménager in the corner after the opposition defenders were drawn into a maul, before Trémoulière kicked a penalty on 20 minutes.

Fiji conceded 11 penalties in the first half alone and had Roela Radiniyavuni sin-binned for a late tackle, which meant they allowed the French a territorial foothold in the match.

Melissande Llorens scored off another maul and on the stroke of half-time, Pauline Bourdon's quick tap released Maëlle Filopon to put France 20-0 up at the interval.

After a stuttering start to the second period, Filopon scored her second to secure the bonus point, before industrious No.8 Emeline Gros barrelled over from the base of the scrum.

Emilie Boulard then scored the best try of the game by stepping inside to finish a coastto-coast move after 71 minutes.

Radiniyavuni was shown a second yellow for a deliberate knockon, with France ending proceedings with a Célia Domain maul try.