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Thomas Darracq hails France squad depth as they set up New Zealand showdown
By PA
France coach Thomas Darracq hailed the depth in his squad after a big second half powered them into the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup with a 39-3 win over Italy.
Winger Joanna Grisez claimed a hat-trick in a dominant France performance that sets up a last-four meeting with hosts New Zealand.
“We are in the semi-finals of the World Cup, this is excellent news,” Darracq said in L’Equipe. “Our first objective was to qualify in the last four. Scoring nearly 40 points against Italy is a great performance.”
Italy kept it close in the first half, trailing 10-3 at the break after Grisez scored her first try early on, but were blown away in the second half – with Darracq crediting the replacements for the impact they had on the game.
“We are really lucky to have a homogeneous squad,” Darracq added. “When they came in, the replacements showed a lot of speed. It was an objective – to maintain our speed to the end.
“It is very important that the whole group is involved in order to go for victory…
“The message at half-time was to be patient. We knew we had an edge on the Italian team but we wanted to go too fast. The score at half-time should have been more, but we asked the players to play closer to the line, to attack the spaces where Italy were waiting to counter.
“We still have room for improvement but despite everything the scoreline is there and there is great satisfaction.”
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Latest Comments
The New Zealand performance in the return fixture in 2016 was filthy. A lot of Irish supporters were pretty shocked by it, viewed it as de facto cheating just to avoid another defeat.
Also shocked by the abuse to Ireland, captain, vice-captain and spectators after the full time whistle in Paris defeat, last match.
Sledging is sledging, but that happens during the game and targetting spectators should be completely out of bounds.
The Irish public used to enjoy these matches, even in defeat. Now they are necessary but unpleasant, because NZ apparently cannot accept or respect successful challengers.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
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