France 14 - 19 Tonga: Islanders win but bonus takes Les Tricouleurs through

TONGA produced the upset of the rugby World Cup when they beat France at the Wellington Regional Stadium but some poor decision making cost the Pacific Islanders at least five tries as a nervy French side took the bonus point they needed to advance to the last eight.

Fly-half Kurt Morath slotted four penalties and converted Sukanaivalu Hufanga’s try for Tonga, who had needed a four-try victory to give them any chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Winger Vincent Clerc scored an injury-time try to rescue a bonus point, for losing by fewer than eight points, as scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili slotted three penalties for a dismal France side who were outplayed in the second half.

New Zealand top Pool A on 15 points with one match to play, while France will finish second on 11 points after completing their four fixtures and face Pool B winners England in the quarter-finals in Auckland on Saturday. Tonga ended their campaign on nine points.

“Towards the end, probably the last eight minutes, we knew we couldn’t score three tries and I thought it was important for us to win the game first,” Tonga coach Isitolo Maka said of his team’s strategy of not trying to get a bonus point.

“That’s why we decided to kick goals and not go for tries. The thing for us was to make sure we won the game.”

France had the better of the opening exchanges, although their scoring was restricted to a Yachvili penalty, which was quickly negated when Morath slotted the first of his four successful kicks.

The score ignited Tonga, who began to find gaps in the French defence, particularly running directly at centres Maxime Mermoz and Aurelien Rougerie, who appeared hampered by a leg injury sustained earlier in the game.

Yachvili managed to give the French a 6-3 lead in the 23rd minute with his second penalty before Tonga stormed ahead after Hufanga gathered Morath’s cross-kick and shrugged off Julien Bonnaire’s tackle for a try.

Morath converted then added a penalty for Tonga, who had Hufanga sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.

Tonga held the French out to reach half-time with a 13-6 lead.

Yachvili reduced the deficit to 13-9 with his third penalty, although the French never really threatened again until the last two minutes.

The match was effectively over as a contest when France replacement Fabrice Estebanez was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Joe Tu’ineau and Morath added his third penalty. He added his fourth after Tonga had squandered an opportunity to score a late try and Clerc rounded off the scoring with an unconverted try in the corner.

“We are not happy for this qualification, but we have qualified,” France coach Marc Lievremont said. “We are alive and part of this adventure and have to fight.”

Scorers: France: Try: Clerc. Pens: Yachvili 3. Tonga: Try: Hufanga. Con: Morath. Pens: Morath 4.

France: Medard; Clerc, Rougerie, Mermoz, Palisson; Parra, Yachvili; Poux, Servat, Ducalcon, Pape, Nallet, Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Lakafia. Subs: Estebanez, Heymans, Trinh-Duc, Barcella, Szarzewski, Pierre, Harinordoquy.

Tonga: Lilo; Iongi, Piutau, Ma’ilei, Hufanga; Morath, Moa; Tonga’uiha, Lutui, Pulu, Lokotui, Hehea, Kalamafoni, Maka, Ma’afu. Subs: Fatafehi, Taumalolo, Aulika, Tuineau, Vahafolau.

Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia). Attendance: 30,000.