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24

2019 Wales On Top Of The France Thrash Scotland In Nice
Scotland’s World Cup prepara-
21st, tions got off to a nightmare start as

August World After Beating they were crushed 32-3 by France in
Nice.
Playing the first of four warm-up
| England clashes, Gregor Townsend’s team
EXAMINER ales went top of rugby Center Piers Francis and penalizing Wales prop Tomas momentum before they depart for
were hoping to build up some

Japan next month with a first victo-
ry on French soil since 1999.
union’sworldrankings
IRISH Wfor the first time after prop Dan Cole delivered strong Francis. intensity of Jacques Brunel’s Les Bleus, who ran in five tries as
But the Dark Blues simply could not contain the power and
performances for England in
It gave England some terri-
torial momentum, with num-
beating England 13-6 in Cardiff.
their first game since head
Wales’ rise to the summit, coach Eddie Jones announced ber eight Billy Vunipola and Maxime Medard’s double was complimented by scores from
which ended New Zealand’s his 31-man World Cup squad. wing Joe Cokanasiga promi- debutant Alivereti Raka, Gregor Alldritt and Antoine Dupont.
unbroken 10-year occupation, Wales, though, had enough nent, and there was a sign of Temperatures of 25 degrees and a questionable pitch at the
comes just 34 days before the in the tank to close matters out Halfpenny’s rustiness after Allianz Riviera did not help the Scots’ cause but Townsend will be
World Cup kicks off in Japan. ahead of a week’s training in such a lengthy international concerned by how sluggish his team looked with less than a
It was an impressive warm- Turkey and resuming pre- lay-off when he could not gath- month to go before they depart for the Far East.
up performance for the tourna- World Cup action against er a steepling Ford kick. Jamie Bhatti in particular will be fearing for his seat on the
ment as they reeled off an 11th Ireland in a fortnight’s time. James and Jonathan Davies, plane after being hooked at half-time.
successive home win. England suffered a blow the first brothers to start Townsend then dropped a hint he may be prepared to take just
Wing George North’s 34th- ahead of the game when wing together in Wales colors for 13
minute try sent Wales on their Ruaridh McConnochie was years, were at the heart of their five props with him when they jet out on September 9 after
way to avenging a 33-19 defeat ruled out because of a ham- team’s attacking efforts, but a switching tighthead Simon Berghan to loosehead for the second
at Twickenham last weekend, string problem. lively opening quarter ended half.
while Dan Biggar converted The Bath wing was due to scoreless. Duncan Taylor was back for his first appearance in a Scotland
and kicked a penalty to leave make his Test debut, but his James Davies went off after shirt after two years of injury hell while John Barclay was also
England 10 points adrift at half- club colleague Anthony 24 minutes after it appeared making his return after an 18-month international lay-off caused
time. Watson replaced him. that England lock Maro Itoje’s by a ruptured Achilles.
But there was an injury And Wales were also forced knee accidentally caught him The French were refreshed themselves after a disappointing
scare for Wales when Biggar into a late switch after full-back on the head, with Josh Navidi Six Nations campaign but Scotland played into the hosts’ hands
took two blows to his left Liam Williams suffered a ham- replacing him. with a string of mistakes.
shoulder – he eventually went string issue during the warm- Biggar kicked a penalty to It took just 20 seconds for Townsend’s team to get themselves
off five minutes from time – up, meaning that Halfpenny open the scoring, and England in a mess as captain Stuart McInally’s line-out throw sailed long.
only six days after his fellow was handed a first Test match then had Watson sin-binned for France gobbled up the ball before applying the squeeze, with
number 10 Gareth Anscombe appearance since November. a deliberate knock-on. Wales Wesley Fofana’s fancy footwork opening the door for Raka to
suffered a World Cup-ending Wales made a high-tempo punished him before he had score under the posts.
knee injury. start, twice testing England full- barely left the pitch. Bhatti was then blamed by referee Nigel Owens for a collapsed
England were slicker and back Elliot Daly under the high Josh Adams made a break
more cohesive after the break, ball and looking to move pos- before possession found its way scrum and Camille Lopez punished his error as he slotted over the
but Wales restricted them to a session wide at pace, before an to Biggar, whose clever kick penalty.
couple of George Ford penal- eighth-minute fracas among was caught by an unmarked Taylor showed no ill-effects of the serious knee injury which
ties before a late Leigh the forwards ended with refer- North on the wing Watson had most recently kept him out as sped back to sweep up the dan-
Halfpenny strike sealed victory. ee Pascal Gauzere warning and would have been defending, ger after Raka had sent Medard galloping with a boot to the cor-
before he touched down and ner.
claimed his 38th Wales try. But there was no-one to stop the full-back scoring in the 23rd
Biggar converted, with minute as Scotland failed to react when Dupont’s grubber broke
England seeing scrum-half loose.
Willi Heinz going off for a head Gael Fickou recovered the ball as Les Bleus leapt into action,
injury assessment and being exploiting a four-on-one out wide as Medard crashed over.
replaced by Ben Youngs and Adam Hastings did at least put Scotland on the board as he slot-
Wales securing a 10-0 interval ted over a 40-yard penalty.
advantage. But when the Glasgow stand-off was sin-binned eight minutes
Heinz returned for the sec- before the break, the odds of a Scotland recovery only got worse.
ond period before Youngs took France capitalized immediately on their extra man as they fired
over from him permanently, the ball to the corner, with Alldritt ramming through after the
while Aaron Shingler replaced
an impressive Aaron Scots’ maul defense crumbled.
Wainwright in Wales’ back Matt Fagerson’s over-eagerness to crunch Lopez then set
row and England prop Joe France loose again in the 55th minute as he failed to make contact.
Marler also appeared for a first Alldritt scampered past three challenges before Dupont set up
time since coming out of inter- Medard to run in number four.
national retirement. And six minutes later it was followed by France’s fifth touch-
Ford kicked two penalties in down. Hastings failed to find touch with a clearing kick and
six minutes to cut Wales’ lead, France’s counter slashed their guests wide open.
but England could not breach Damian Penaud cut his way through midfield before handing
the Welsh defense and they over to Dupont to score.
were left frustrated seven-point Scotland will have to make drastic improvements if they are to
losers following Halfpenny’s
long-range penalty during the avoid another painful lesson when the French make the return
closing stages. C trip to Murrayfield next Saturday. C