League: Kiwis scrape home for win against a determined France

CARCASSONNE - Prop Paul Rauhihi acknowledges the Kiwis were fortunate to get a 24-20 victory yesterday in their one-off rugby league test against a French side who belied their underdog status.

The New Zealanders, with four new caps, outscored the French by five tries to three at Carcassonne, but needed a late effort from second rower Ali Lauitiiti to prevent an unlikely defeat.

The Kiwis went to the south of France because of their bye this week in the Tri-Nations tournament.

Rauhihi, named vice-captain to Ruben Wiki, who began on the bench, said there was relief that they would be leaving with a win.

"We started the game pretty scrappy, and they played for the whole 80 minutes," he said.

"I think we played pretty well in the second half, but they kept their levels up throughout the game and made it tough for us."

Errors by the Kiwis allowed France to jump to a 12-8 lead at the break through converted tries to former Featherstone five-eighth Maxime Greseque and winger Claude Sirvent.

Greseque had an outstanding game, sparking French attacks, kicking four goals from four attempts and producing two 40-20 kicks.

In the second half, the New Zealanders tightened their game.

Centre Clinton Toopi, who had scored one of NZ's two first-half tries - Shontayne Hape scored the other - got his second six minutes after halftime to put his side back in front.

But a Greseque penalty and a cross-field bomb that led to winger Frederic Zitter scoring a try gave a 20-14 lead.

With 10 minutes to go, Wiki barged over to bring New Zealand back to within two points and the comeback was completed three minutes from time when Lauitiiti weaved through the defence to score under the posts.

- NZPA