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Wade Graham stars as Australia ease past spirited France at Rugby League World Cup
The Kangaroos came, they saw and they conquered in Canberra as expected, but it was far from the blowout most anticipated as they recorded a 52-6 World Cup victory over France with Wade Graham scoring four tries.
Les Chanticleers were once a rugby league power but haven’t beaten Australia since 1978 and weren’t expected to put up much opposition at GIO Stadium. Two years ago England put 80 points on France in a Test match and they lost their tournament opener to minnows Lebanon a week ago but on Friday the Europeans showed remarkable steel and spirit, staying with the green and gold, who fielded four debutants in their starting 13, for long periods with stout defence and tenacious tackling.
And it was one of Australia’s own, Sydney-born and raised Mark Kheirallah, who scored arguably the try of the competition so far against his idols. The 27-year-old got France’s only try with a brilliant 95-metre run, stepping defenders left and right, in the first half. It was a magical moment the former Roosters fullback will never forget.
“We can’t be happy with the score, but we’re happy with the effort,” France coach Aurelien Cologni said afterwards. “We changed a lot of things from last week. They have played like a team. We were strong in the middle. We never thought the game was lost. This game today was the perfect game to prepare for England.”
Cologni’s counterpart, Mal Meninga, was equally impressed by the French performance. “I thought France were fantastic tonight,” he said. “They gave us a bit of a battle. I was really pleased with the respect our players showed to the French. I would think their coach and their players would be very, very happy with their performance. They’ll give the English a run for their money.”
The Kangaroos got off the mark in the 12th minute thanks to Graham’s first. The bullocking Cronulla forward bulldozed past a few opponents on his way to the line and it would be a constant theme in the nation’s capital, as Graham claimed a first-half hat-trick in just 31 minutes in a dominant display.
In the 14th minute the Sharks back-rower grabbed his second after he finished off a routine short-side, inside play from Cameron Smith to Billy Slater. At 10-0 the Australians thought the floodgates would open and the French would capitulate – they didn’t. Cologni’s team, hurt by that 11-point upset loss to Lebanon, stayed in the grind and scrambled well. Then Kheirallah injected himself into the match with his piece of solo magic.
That stellar four-pointer woke the Kangaroos up somewhat and they responded with two quick tries before the first half finished. Graham’s third came thanks a David Klemmer offload right on France’s try-line. Another Klemmer offload saw Australia attack to the left and Josh Dugan dummied and powered over, with an acrobatic finish in the left corner the icing on the cake.
The hosts had a 20-6 lead at the break, but it was the French who would have been more pleased with their first-half performance. The Kangaroos were remarkably error-prone and sloppy, unlike their typical ruthlessness, as they dished out perhaps their worst 40 minutes since Mal Meninga took charge of the team at the start of 2016.
Their play unsurprisingly stepped up several notches in the second half and it took just three minutes for Australia to score, debutant Cameron Munster slipping past an opponent on the left edge. Six minutes later Tyson Frizell forced his way over with a crushing carry to make it 32-6.
In the 54th minute Slater equaled the World Cup try-scoring record with his 13th tournament touchdown after he was on the end of a Michael Morgan line-break and Graham’s fourth of the night came after a simple pass from Munster. The Melbourne five-eighth secured his brace and then Valentine Homes got the Kangaroos’s last three minutes from full-time.
It might have been a 42-point, 10-try win but the contest exposed enough flaws in the Australian side, one missing Cooper Cronk, James Maloney, Matt Gillett and a handful of others, that England and New Zealand would have watched with interest.
Nevertheless, Meninga left happy with his team and in particular the impact of Graham. “We achieved everything we wanted tonight,” he said. “All the debutants played well. We could have played a bit more expansive footy but we stuck to a plan. From that plan Wade benefitted from it, Tyson benefitted from it, Josh Dugan benefitted from it.”
