By Samoa dismantled France 78-4 in the Men’s Rugby League World Cup on Friday — and the French head coach says the growing gap between the NRL and Super League is a major reason why.
Sua Fa’alogo (Credits: BBC Sport)
The heavy defeat at Parramatta saw Samoa score 14 tries in an emphatic Pool B-C victory. Melbourne Storm winger Sua Fa’alogo came off the bench as a replacement for the injured Deine Mariner and went on to score four tries — he even had a fifth ruled out.
France’s Boss Points to the NRL Gap
France head coach Laurent Frayssinous admitted his team were “all over the shop” in an opening 20 minutes where Samoa scored five times, with head injuries to winger Leo Darrelatour and stand-off Cesar Rouge not helping the cause. France’s only try came in the first half from Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet.
But asked why France suffered an even heavier defeat than the 62-4 loss they endured against Samoa at the last World Cup four years ago, Frayssinous had a pointed answer: “Do you think the NRL is far better now than four years ago? Then you have the answer.”
All but one of the Samoa squad play in the NRL, while France’s team is largely drawn from Super League clubs — South Sydney Rabbitohs centre Latrell Siegwalt is the exception.
“The NRL Keeps Growing”
“The NRL keeps growing and keeps getting better every year,” Frayssinous said. “Does that mean Super League isn’t? No. Super League is getting better every year, but not as fast as the NRL. The smartness, the skill the guys have under pressure, the touches, week in, week out — that’s something we need to improve in Super League, simple as that.”
He also backed the NRL’s proposed investment in Super League, saying: “What the NRL has done here is so good, what they bring to the game is great, so we want the NRL to do it the same in Europe.”
Samoa head coach Ben Gardiner praised the squad’s depth after Fa’alogo’s blinder off the bench: “We were planning for him to play at some stage, and he just got on a bit earlier than he probably would have thought. And to his credit, he went out and had a blinder.”
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
