19 points: Fred Michalak
France completed a clean sweep of their November Tests at the Stade de France on Saturday with a 22-14 win over Samoa.
Unlike their convincing successes over Australia and Argentina this month, victory didn't come easily for the French, who were trailing the Islanders going into the final quarter.
The result means France will end the month as Europe's highest-ranked side and will be one of the four top seeds at the 2015 World Cup Draw on December 3.
France led 10-7 at half time thanks to a charge-down try from Fred Michalak, whose score cancelled out David Lemi's opening try for Samoa.
Samoa moved in front early in the second period however when Joe Tekori scored as France struggled to contain the visitors' power game.
But Four Michalak penalties in the final 25 minutes were enough to see les Bleus home to a hard-fought win.
Samoa were first strike approaching the end of the first quarter. From turnover ball, prop Census Johnston chipped ahead (!) for wing Robert Lilomaiava to collect. Lemi was up in support to score the game's first try in spectacular fashion.
The French reply wasn't long in coming however as Michalak charged down his opposite number, Tusi Pisi, to bolt clear and score under the posts.
The home fly-half's conversion levelled the scores but France were having a hard time matching their visitors both in terms of physicality and accuracy on attack.
Scrum-half Morgan Parra was however able to give the French a half-time lead thanks to a 45 metre penalty shortly before the break.
Samoa started the second half breathing fire and a break from scrum-half Kahn Fotuali'i had them camped on the French 22. Tekori took his chance on the fringe of a ruck, stretching out an arm to place the ball on the whitewash. It was a close call, but the TMO confirmed the try.
Pisi's conversion gave Samoa a 14-10 lead but Michalak soon pulled three back when the visitors infringed on the deck.
France turned to their scrum to earn the next penalty and a narrow lead and the hosts were lucky to see Pisi miss a second shot a goal.
Unable to unlock the Samoan defence with their backs, the French forwards put in the hard yards, earning another long range penalty for Michalak to secure victory in the dying minutes.
Man of the match: We usually pick someone from the winning side but a few Samoans really impressed. Kahn Fotuali'i was excellent and Census Johnston was awesome in both the scrums and the tight-loose. But we'll go for Taiasina Tuifua who made huge yards with ball in hand.
Moment of the match: Samoa's first try was a wake up call for France. Census Johnston's chip ahead to create the try will was straight out of front-row fantasy land!
Villain of the match: No nasty stuff to report
The scorers:
For France:
Try: Michalak
Con: Michalak
Pens: Parra, Michalak 4
For Samoa:
Tries: Lemi, Tekori
Cons: Pisi 2
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé (c), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Yannick Forestier, 18 Vincent Debaty, 19 Jocelino Suta, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Yoann Huget.
Samoa: 15 David Lemi (c), 14 Paul Perez, 13 George Pisi, 12 Johnny Leota, 11 Robert Lilomaiava, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Filo Paulo, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Villiamu Afatia, 18 James Johnston, 19 Faatiga Lemalu, 20 Tivaini Fomai, 21 Jeremy Su'a, 22 Ki Anufe, 23 Reupena Levasa.
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Comments
Trader2 says...
sonsofsamoa
You guys were fantastic but don't fall into the trap of blaming the ref's, it will make you all bitter and twisted, just look at some of the sad people on here. I could name them but that would put me over the 1900 word count. Suffice to say NH ref's are a little different but you have a lot of players playing there so it should not be a surprise. Great game Samoa, your game is really coming together, Pat Lam well done after last year at Auckland, I always thought you were too good for those Auckland posers anyway.
Posted 23:58 24th November 2012
jontheref says...
Boot on other foot.
Last week, hands away blue, blue pick up score try.
Suck it up, who goes around comes around.
Us poor boys in blue, all refs cheat us.
yeah.
Posted 23:22 24th November 2012
hayj05 says...
Forget the result. The fact that Samoa bullied an in-form French team in France is great for the game.
Is this current Samoan side the most competitive & consistent Pacific Island side of all time?
Samoa is a team that's only going to get stronger too. There are so many NZers of Samoan heritage coming through the NZ Rugby system & the Samoan results are starting to inspire. It'll produce a snowball effect & you'll see a lot more young, promising players of Samoan heritage in NZ seeing the blue jersey as more desirable than the black one, as we are already starting to witness.
They are seriously a side that could be challenging for WC's in the future, even without a regular tier 1 competition like TRC or the 6 nations.
Posted 22:53 24th November 2012
Toulousain says...
@ManuToaSAMOA. We share your pain. We really do. We have also suffered from decades of being considered a hot-headed Latin tier 2 nation in the eyes of anglo-saxon referees. The way you feel right now is they way many of us French felt at Eden Park last year. The difference is we French have massive respect for you, your players, your country, your ethos etc. We admire your rugby talent. And we can admit that we were lucky to win tonight.
If this was RWC final, we would not have shaken your hands, left the pitch together, even spoken to or looked at you after the final whistle, let alone had a drink afterwards. Then 2 days later we would be putting footage on youtube of every possible indiscretion that happened during the game. And our national newspapers and TV channels would be starting a campaign against your entire nation for past war crimes, acts of thuggery in previous rugby games, biased refereeing in past RWCs etc etc. Then we would throw eggs at your bus on the way to the airport and spit at you in the departure lounge. That's how the NZ public treated our team. For daring to challenge the ABs. Nice!
Anyhow, that's my rant, and you probably have much better memories of NZ.....
It's late. Tomorrow we receive the players back in our clubs, including Census back in Toulouse. We will embrace him like a brother!
Peace :-)
Posted 22:42 24th November 2012
RobinMasters says...
Exactly the kind of game you can't win against a French side that has decided to defend the way they did...remember Wales vs France in Auckland last year, the French were one try behind for an hour, but no serious kicker ever turned penalties into points. The Samoans displayed great skill and energy, but they should blame themselves (not the ref, please, he was mediocre for both sides) for being unable to kick three points once in a while.
Posted 22:41 24th November 2012
Jako says...
can't speak highly enough of samoa, so i wont even try. fascinating rugby from them.
france had amazing compossure when chasing the game and were excelent when the time came to close the game
Posted 22:12 24th November 2012
Jako says...
can't speak highly enough of samoa, so i wont even try. fascinating rugby from them.
france had amazing compossure when chasing the game and were excelent when the time came to close the game
Posted 22:12 24th November 2012
ManuToaSAMOA says...
im so sick of referees influencing the result of the game.Samoa was getting penalised for anything yet france was getting away with everything,it would of been a different story if france played england or ireland or scotland etc...it just doesnt seem fair,i feel iv been cheated out of the game,i feel exactly how i felt last year when the ref keep penalising samoa against south africa which we almost won but didnt because the ref was one sided.i would give praise to france for battling on and showing courage but they wernt even in the game,they coulnt even hold the ball for a minute when it counted,they where slipping off tackles,their kicking game was average,they couldnt even score a team try or even look like scoring,nothing france did showed they where the better team..the way rugby is like, penalties should only be 2pts,because how does a team who plays like shit,scores 1 try,gets dominated all around the paddock wins???some1 tell me that?and france did not show courage ,they were just there,samoa was playing all the rugby
Posted 21:43 24th November 2012
ManuToaSAMOA says...
im so dissapointed how this game ended,my whole family in new zealand were in our living room watching this game,samoa was dominant in every aspect of the game yet france won????we are always being cheated out of the game especially when we play 1st teir countries,its so unfair,last year againstsouth africa the ref played his part in helping south africa won even though it was clear they wernt the best side on the day,yet it hapened again against france.and i bet u a thousand dollars nothing else would be said or done about this matter
Posted 21:26 24th November 2012
GCP_JONES says...
Samoa for the rugby championship....come on IRB show you've got a pair, rugby needs more teams who are truly competative
Posted 21:03 24th November 2012
Toulousain says...
Villain of the match: no nasty stuff to report. Are you kidding? What about the clear punch on Mermoz by the Samoan no 6? We shall await the citing officer......
This was a truly difficult match for all the reasons others have explained. The France team looked tired. Nothing really hanging on this game since England lost to SA earlier in the day. The pitch was heavy. The ball was wet. We have a light cavalry with high skill levels, but we played in an arm wrestle against knights in armour. And those Samoans are truly impressive beasts!!
I am surprised and impressed that France won. At 14-10 down early in the second half, this looked like a lost game.... Bravo les gars!
Big respect also to Samoa. You are really an impressive group of men. If we played the game again 10 times, you would probably win at least 5! There was really nothing between the teams tonight. One team just ended with more points than the other. Just.
Posted 20:30 24th November 2012
runnrugby says...
Samoa were looking to add another big scalp to the collection. French not as dominant and Samoa exposed them a bit.
Posted 20:22 24th November 2012
Rosbif says...
Samoa had 60% possession in first half and 64% in second. They scored two tries from open play. They won the combat. They won virtually all the collisions. How did France win this game? A lucky charge-down try and a better goal kicker. France die-hards (of which I am one) will say "we won, even though we played badly, that's the sign of a good team" etc etc. I'm not so sure. I found myself wanting the Samoans to win. Almost. They really deserved it. I have nothing but massive respect for that team.
The ref was all over the place. Just not up to it. A shame for both sides. But in the end France got the decisions at scrum and breakdown mostly I feel because they were perceived to be the Tier 1 nation. This has to stop. When will PI teams be given a fair shot to win games? RWC was a terrible experience for them. It seems they need to be 20-30% better than the opposition to actually win. That's just not fair. If they are 1% better, they should win. Tonight, Samoa were at least 10% better than France in most facets of the game. But France won?
Let's hope the Fra players see this as a wake-up call ahead of the 6N. Yes, there is a lot of talent in the team. Yes, they did not panic. Yes, Freddie was assured with his tactical play and kicking. But his post match interview said it all. "We were lucky tonight. They dominated us. We had to find a way to stay in the game. In the end, they could easily have won. Let's stay humble. Let's go back to our clubs. We have a lot of work to do"
Well said Freddie.
Well played Samoa!
Posted 20:20 24th November 2012
Saint_Andre91 says...
Agree the referee helped us on that one. That said, I'd rather having won the world cup final and losing this November international than vice versa ;-)
Furthermore, a few bad calls don't exactly make up for the winning margin (especially when you consider Pisi's accuracy from the boot tonight). I feel the Islanders ran out of gas in the final quarter.
Posted 20:19 24th November 2012
froggy73 says...
@sonsofsamoa: I agree their were plenty of offsides...most of them Samoans if I want to be honest. Anyway, that is what happens when you put an amateur referee for an international game. No-one is happy. Everyone feels cheated. Half of the calls were wrong and that did waste the game.
IRB, please get rid of this muppet Lacey before he does more damages.
Posted 20:15 24th November 2012
Bambo says...
Whew! What a game. France really have discovered some grit. Most teams would have been ground down and then wilted under the onslaught that Samoa bring to the game. Good to see the French digging deep and notching up a good points difference. All played well but Michalak certainly brings them the edge.
Do Samoa follow a different set of laws for the tackle and the break down? Great team, full of energy and zest but boy do some of those tackles look especially iffy at times. Not sure how many times you can/should be able to get away with 'it' during a game at this level.
Posted 19:55 24th November 2012
melkdave says...
That was some match,and well done both teams .Sa,oa played really well,and gave France alot of problems all match.Once again France had to dig deep for the win,PSA seems to have got that though to his players ,you have to battle for victories.
Posted 19:26 24th November 2012
jmanngod says...
well done Samoa... hurry back home to Auckland!
Posted 19:25 24th November 2012
froggy73 says...
This is the first time I blame a ref on here, but I must say that was one of the worst refereing I have ever seen. Lines out not straight, knock-ons not spotted, offsides not spotted. Scrummage were shambles. I think Stevie Wonder would have done better to be honest.
Mr Lacey, that was your first international game. Please go back to the Pro12 !!!!
Posted 19:22 24th November 2012
sonsofsamoa says...
I have no idea which game the referee was watching? He only reffed against the breakdown when France had the ball.. And how about George Pisi not even being held down? Or the countless offsides from the French? The countermauls in the same manner as the French and we get penalized and the French don't? As well as the scrum resets when Samoa had clearly won it, or when the French had turned the scrum around?.. There were so many calls which went against us.. How do you score two tries to France's one? And still lose the game?.. This referee is too busy refereeing defensive Rugby put a referee who knows how to referee real rugby..
Posted 19:17 24th November 2012