France punish Japan 42-15 in scrappy Tokyo try-fest

TOKYO, July 18 : France ran in six tries against a ragged Japan at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday with hooker Maxime Lamothe and fullback Matthieu Jalibert each grabbing a brace as Les Bleus rounded off their first leg of the inaugural Nations Championship with a 42-15 win.   

The Six Nations champions took advantage of the high-tempo, unstructured match with No. 8 Alexandre Roumat and scrumhalf Maxime Lucu also dotting down, and Lucu and Romain Ntamack converting all the scores.

"We loved playing these matches because they were played at a very high level, with a lot of ball-in-play time and a great intensity," captain Lucu told a post-match news conference.

France bounced back from a narrow 34-32 loss away to New Zealand with an emphatic 42-26 win in Australia in their other opening matches. The tournament will resume in November before a finals weekend in London.

While Japan showed flashes of attacking brilliance, it was a disappointing end to a strong run that saw them beat Italy 27-10 and front up to Ireland in a 20-36 loss in Australia.

JAPAN STRUGGLE TO STOP FRENCH MAUL

France punished Japan's defence less than two minutes after kickoff with Lamothe powering over from a lineout maul, an area the hosts struggled to deal with throughout.

The Brave Blossoms looked shell-shocked in the opening exchanges but they showed some mettle and inched into a slim lead with a penalty from fullback Takuro Matsunaga and a silky piece of counterattacking play finished by winger Kippei Ishida.

But that score on the 15-minute mark would be the only time they were ahead and moments later Jalibert, who missed training in the build-up to the game through injury, found himself in acres of space as Japan back-pedalled. 

Japan lost a man