Michalak conducts French blitz

Seven tries for fluid French in Nantes

France breezed their way past a muscular but clumsy Canadian resistance in Nantes on Saturday, scoring seven tries in their 50-6 win.

It is difficult to know what is Bernard Laporte's first-choice team these days, as he seems to have so many players available in each position and able to do a job.  This French team was missing several established faces, but with Frédéric Michalak pulling the strings in his own inimitable style, they looked very much a finished product, both up front and in the backs.  If and when Laporte does find the XV that are a step above the rest and manages to get them all healthy, disciplined and on form, South Africa and the All Blacks will have another rival for that rugby World Cup 'favourites' tag.

Canada, for their part, offered game resistance, and this was certainly an improvement on the 70-0 drubbing inflicted upon them by England last year.  The Churchill Cup encounters over the summer appear to be succeeding in developing the team and the players, and the Canucks should move on to Bucharest this week taking positives from this game rather than ruminating on the result.

It took France 20 minutes to score their first try, during which time Dimitri Yachvili had nosed them in front with two early penalties.  Michalak kicked a close penalty to touch, and the pack drove Julien Bonnaire over in textbook fashion.

Yachvili sliced the conversion horribly from that try, but made no mistake after a wonderful solo effort from Michalak after 25 minutes.  Michalak dummied one way, then the other, then used the acceleration that most people forget he has to slice through the gap for the try.

Michalak's opposite number Ed Fairhurst was sin-binned for a high tackle during the build-up to Michalak's try, but the Canadians began to play a little and forced their way into the French 22 three times.  Finally Mike Webb got them on the board with a penalty.

France bounced back with another terrific try, with David Marty taking an up and under, off-loading to Thomas Castaignède, who switched with Jauzion.  Jauzion then drew his man brilliantly before handing on to Marty for an easy finish.

Castaignède, clearly revelling in his re-discovered international role, capped off his return to the France XV with a cracking try one minute into the second half.  Michalak was once again the architect, looping round his three-quarters before bursting through the gap to feed Castaignède.

Derek Daypuck kept Canada faintly in touch with a further penalty, but a try by Sebastian Bruno took the French even further ahead, after Yachvili and Michalak had created a gap with a crisp one-two.

That try killed the game as a contest, and the roll of substitutions interrupted the rhythm even further.  Bonnaire notched his second try after supporting Aurelien Rougerie's clean break, and in the final move of the game, Pierre Mignoni snatched a try off the base of a scrum to bring the fifty up for France.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Bonnaire 2, Michalak, Marty, Castaignède, Bruno, Mignoni
Cons:  Yachvili 2, Michalak
Pens:  Yachvili 2, Michalak

For Canada:
Pens:  Webb, Daypuck

France:  15 Thomas Castaignède, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Rémy Martin, 7 Thomas Lièvremont, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Jèrôme Thion (c), 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Pieter De Villiers, 2 Sébastien Bruno, 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Replacements:  16 Raphael Ibanez, 17 Olivier Milloud, 18 Gregory Lamboley, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Pierre Mignoni, 21 Yann Delaigue, 22 Julien Laharrague.

Canada:  15 Derek Daypuck, 14 Mike Pyke, 13 Ryan Smith, 12 John Cannon, 11 Brodie Henderson, 10 Ed Fairhurst, 9 Morgan Williams, 8 Stan McKeen, 7 Aaron Carpenter, 6 Mike Webb, 5 Mike James (c), 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Garth Cooke, 2 Aaron Abrams, 1 Kevin Tkachuk.
Replacements:  16 Mark Lawson, 17 Casey Dunning, 18 Forrest Gainer, 19 Josh Jackson, 20 Adam Kleeberger, 21 Matt Weingart, 22 Ryan McWhinney.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand), Daniel Jabase (Argentina)
Television match official:  Huw Watkins (Wales)