Rugby League: Second half romp sets up Kiwi win

By CHRIS BARCLAY

PERPIGNAN - The Kiwis limped to the finish of their eight- match European rugby league tour with a comfortable 36-10 victory over an outgunned but valiant French side at Stade Aime Giral in Perpignan this morning.

The Kiwis held a lead of only 6-0 at halftime but a three-try burst ten minutes after the interval put the result beyond doubt. France responded with a couple of long range efforts to underline their improvement since a demoralising 6-36 loss to Lebanon earlier this month.

Stacey Jones and Nigel Vagana each scored twice with the Bulldogs' centre zeroing in on Sean Hoppe's current New Zealand record of 17.

Vagana extended his tally to 14, ironically as Hoppe -- an emergency call-up for the third Great Britain test last weekend -- finally bowed out of the rugby league arena with his 303rd appearance and 35th international cap.

The Kiwis were frequently guilty of sabotaging their own good lead up work by impatiently pushing passes and surrendering possession when tries loomed. They would have been behind had loose forward Laurent Carrasco not fumbled halfback Julien Rinaldi's grubber over the line in the eighth minute.

When the New Zealanders finally strung a series of high quality phases together interchange prop Jerry SeuSeu completed a sweeping movement to score his first test try after 24 minutes although television replays suggested he may have knocked the ball on as he forced it close to the posts.

David Solomona was judged to have spilt the ball over the line in the shadow of halftime but the miss was not costly as the Kiwis moved quickly into their stride after the break.

The strength of the Kiwis pack forced a rare scrum turnover deep in French territory and Vagana eventually waltzed over to push the Kiwis into double figures after 43 minutes.

A timely Francis Meli interception and smart in-pass from the wing had Jones scooting 20-metres for the first of his tries five minutes later.

Almost from the restart Jones turned provider with a tricky banana kick falling straight into Vagana's hands for a simple score.

Lance Hohaia's conversion gave the Kiwis a 24-point buffer and a rout was looking increasingly possible when fullback David Vaealiki cleaned up a sloppy pass from Ali Lauiti'iti to dribble the ball soccer-style through traffic to score on the hour, again handy to the sticks.

France's response was immediate and lifted the flagging sprits of a 6500-strong crowd with two sparkling tries in two minutes.

Former Canberra Raiders Prop Laurent Guisset powered over out wide to put France on the board in the 62nd minute. Then centre Claude Sirvent rounded off a stirring 50-metre movement -- the equal of any constructed by the Kiwis on tour.

Five-eighth Laurent Frayssinous' sideline conversion reduced the Kiwis lead to 20 points but Jones had the final say when he and the menacing Lauiti'iti combined for the skipper's second try seven minutes from fulltime.

Teenager Hohaia added his sixth conversion for a perfect kicking record that embossed an impressive general display.

He was forced into the unfamiliar role of hooker in the second spell after Robbie Paul's gashed knee reopened. Solomona was also missing for most of the second spell, leaving the Kiwis with only two fit bench players.

Hohaia, who earned his sixth cap, said it took some time to acclimatise to the role but he enjoyed his first experience of playing dummy half.

"We (Hohaia and Paul) switched around at the start but when Robbie could come back in the second half it was up to me. There was a lot more defensive work and that was a bit hard because of my size but it was just more experience that will hopefully make me a better player."

While Hohaia has a long career ahead of him, at the other end of the spectrum Hoppe was happy to go out on a winning note after the disappointment of a drawn test series with the Lions.

"We knew we were going to win before the kick off but they were gutsy. They came out firing but we blew them off the park in the second half but then we went and relaxed.

"It's a nice way to finish."

Freeman said the team followed a pattern throughout the tour, persisting with an enterprising style of play although it lends itself to a high error count.

"We tried to promote the ball a little bit too much but they always play like that. We knuckled down in the second half and when you're that far in front you're going to let some points in. I thought they French were great and it's good for international football for them to score some points."

For France captain and second rower Pascal Jampy was prominent and debutant Fourcade Abbassa proved a handful on the wing.

- NZPA