Canada bounce back to defeat France

France had won the opening test 27-19 last weekend and both sides had made a raft of changes for the game, given the short turnaround and the fact that both will play again over the coming week against England.

A late try from Julianne Zussman gave Canada the win in the second test.  Jackie Tittley kicked two penalties for the visitors, who led 6-3 at the half on a wet, windy day.

The French tied it up with a penalty of their own five minutes into the second half from Jessy Trémoulière.

Both teams continued a hard-fought second half in muddy conditions; however neither team could put points up on the board. It stayed level until the final play of the match, when Zussman, who went on a run from 50-metres out for the only try of the evening, giving Canada the 11-6 victory.

“We never stopped playing, we created a great volume of play and we were rewarded at the end after multiple phases of play,” said Canada head coach Francois Ratier.

After being outmatched in the majority of the breakdowns in the first game, Canada Forwards Coach Gary Dukelow was very pleased with the improvement he saw from his players.

“We recognised from the first game that we had to win at the breakdown and we focused on that while preparing for this game,” said Dukelow. “To beat the French you must at least match them in the scrum and we dominated.”

FRANCE : Trémoulière – Fourcade, Métier, Godiveau (Rousseau, 40), Lièvre – (o) Parra (Guiglion, 40), (m) Rivoalen (Troncy, 40) – Pin, Duval, Diallo – André (N'Diaye, 40), Corson (Rabier, 40) – Portaries (Chobet, 55), Mignot (cap) (Mignot, 48), Ezanno (Portaries, 67)

CANADA: Landry - Farella, Waters, Thornborough, Zussman - (o) Titley (m) Moleschi - Murphy, Russell (cap), Paquin - Beukeboom (Samson, 67), Mack (Blackwood, 67) - Crandell (Demerchant, 53), Kirby (Donaldson, 67) Russell (Pinault-Reid, 77)