France defeat Fiji 34-12 in terrible weather

France overcame dreadful weather conditions to beat Fiji 34-12 in their opening November rugby union international on Saturday.

The French scored three tries through centre David Marty and winger Maxime Medard plus a penalty try. Dimitri Yachvili kicked 19 points in a game played in driving rain.

Fiji responded with four penalties by flyhalf Seremaia Bai but never threatened to upset the Six Nations grand slam champions.

“When I got up this moring, I told myself: ‘Tonight, you will probably not be fully happy, because of the weather conditions as I was expecting a frustrating game,” France coach Marc Lievremont told reporters.

“Now, I have ambivalent feelings. I am satisfied that we went past our opponents with a lot of young players, debutants.

But in the second half, I wanted more.”

The Pacific Islanders, with six French-based players in their lineup including Napolioni Nalaga on the wing, defended well in the early stages although they remained pinned in their own half.

Following an early exchange of penalties in driving rain and with strong winds blowing, France, who had been keeping the ball tight, put their grip on the game courtesy of a Napolioni Nalaga blunder.

The Clermont winger failed to control a Yachvili wide kick in his in-goal area and Marty took full advantage of the blunder to score.

Centre Fabrice Estabanez was impressive for his first cap and his cross-field kick was gathered by Medard, who dotted down in the corner shortly after the restart, although by that stage the ball was a slippery as a bar of soap.

France’s scrum improved as the Fiji forwards gradually ran out of steam and Marc Lievremont’s side were handed five points when the Fiji scrum stood up under the posts.

France face Argentina in Montpellier next Saturday and Australia at the Stade de France on Nov. 28.