Rugby World Cup: France too classy for Romania in London

HEAVYWEIGHTS France have proven too classy for Romania, beating ‘The Oaks’ 38-11 in their Rugby World Cup match in London.

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 23: Noa Nakaitaci of France is tackled by Valentin Ursache (ground) and Florin Surugiu (L) of Romania during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool D match between France and Romania at the Olympic Stadium on September 23, 2015 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

A BONUS point victory was the best thing France took away from the Olympic Stadium in struggling to put away a limited Romania side 38-11 on Thursday.

France’s second win from two matches in Pool D was, like the first over Italy four days ago, workmanlike.

There was no continuity from the Italy win because there were 13 changes, which meant France was playing its first game of the tournament for a second time.

To the benefit of coach Philippe Saint-Andre, he’s seen almost his entire squad in action, and has to be closer to figuring out his best side, especially for the likely pool decider against Ireland.

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Noa Nakaitaci of France is tackled by Valentin Ursache and Florin Surugiu of Romania.

That team may need to play in the next game against Canada in eight days.

Scrumhalf Morgan Parra was busy and brilliant off the kicking tee, inside centre Wesley Fofana scored for the first time since November, and winger Sofiane Guitoune almost bagged a hat trick of tries.

The defence was strong, with only six tackles missed, and in another positive, there wasn’t any tournament-ending injuries.

But against a strong set-piece side such as Romania, the set-pieces were messy.

And it wasn’t until Romania was reduced to 14 men after half an hour that, against the run of play, France squirmed out of Romania’s grip.

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Originally published as Rugby World Cup: France too classy for Romania in London