Sloppy France rout Romania

The scoreline ended heavily in favour of France, but their performance left much to be desired, with scenes of a demonstratively furious Philippe Saint-André in the change room at half time underlining the frustration of the head coach. Romania exerted their dominance early at the scrum and piled into the breakdown, winning an incredible eight turnovers in the first half, but could not turn pressure into points.

It was France who got on the scoreboard first through Morgan Parra, whose penalty gave them a lead but not for long, as Florin Vlaicu got something on the board with France in desperate shape on their own goal line. The decision to turn down the five metre scrum and take the kick was surely the wrong one, and instead of being up by four the score was level.

As if they had suddenly woken up, the blue jerseys returned fire on the Romanians with devastating results. Paulica Ion pulled down a rolling maul and was dispatched to the bin, and with the defense a man down and in shambles, Sofiane Guitoune and Yannick Nyanga score tries in quick succession to break the deadlock. Vlaicu added another goal just before half but the gap was a comfortable 11 points to France.

The message at the intermission seemed to find dead air, as Les Bleus stumbled through the proceding 25 minutes with nothing to show for. At last it was Guitoune for the second time who reached out of a tackle to score, and Wesley Fofana ripped through the line just moments later. Valentin Ursache earned some respect back for the Oaks, breaking off a maul and bashing over for a deserved try, but the last word went to France via Gaël Fickou, who stepped inside Vlaicu with embarrassing ease to cross the line untouched.

France now have a full week off to prepare for Canada in Milton Keynes, a tricky match that Les Bleus will use to find form before facing Pool D favorites Ireland. Romania meanwhile will get their taste of the green jerseys next on Sunday at Wembley Stadium, with an appalling three days rest in between.

FRANCE 38
Tries – S. Guitoune 2 (30, 66), Y. Nyanga (33), W. Fofana (69), G. Fickou (78)
Cons – M. Parra 3 (31, 34, 67), R. Kockott 2 (70, 79)
Pens – M. Parra (8)

ROMANIA 11
Tries – V. Ursache (74)
Pens – F. Vlaicu 2 (20, 40)
Yellow cards – P. Ion (29)

FRANCE
1 V. Debaty (E. Ben Arous 68) 2 D. Szarzewski (capt.) (B. Kayser 22-32, 49) 3 U. Atonio (N. Mas 49) 4 B. le Roux 5 A. Flanquart 6 F. Ouedraogo 7 Y. Nyanga 8 L. Picamoles (D. Chouly 49) 9 M. Parra (R. Kockott 68) 10 R. Talès 11 N. Nakaitaci 12 W. Fofana 13 G. Fickou 14 S. Guitoune 15 B. Dulin

ROMANIA
1 M. Lazar (A. Ursache 71) 2 O. Turashvili (A. Radoi 59) 3 P. Ion (H. Pungea 73) 4 V. Poparlan (O. Tonita 68) 5 J. van Heerden 6 V. Ursache (H. Pungea 36-40) 7 V. Lucaci (S. Burcea 73) 8 M. Macovei (capt.) 9 F. Surugiu (V. Calafeteanu 73) 10 D. Dumbrava (C. Gal 46) 11 A. Apostol (I. Botezatu 72) 12 F. Vlaicu 13 P. Kinikinilau 14 M. Lemnaru 15 C. Fercu