France's Rugby League Coach Blames NRL Gap for Heavy World Cup Loss
Laurent Frayssinous suggests the growing disparity between Australian and European leagues contributed to Samoa's dominant 78-4 victory.
France's head coach, Laurent Frayssinous, attributed the team's heavy 78-4 defeat against Samoa in the Men's Rugby League World Cup to the widening gap between the National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League.
Samoa secured an emphatic victory in Parramatta, scoring 14 tries, with winger Sua Fa'alogo contributing four as a substitute. France's sole try was scored by Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet. Frayssinous admitted his team struggled in the opening 20 minutes, during which Samoa scored five tries, and noted that France also sustained injuries to winger Leo Darrelatour and stand-off Cesar Rouge.
When asked to compare the current loss to a similar defeat four years prior, Frayssinous pointed to the increasing quality of the NRL. "All but one of the Samoa squad are with clubs in the NRL, while France's team is largely made up of Super League players, with South Sydney Rabbitohs centre Latrell Siegwalt the exception," he stated. "The NRL keeps growing and keeps getting better every year. ... 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."
Frayssinous expressed support for the NRL's potential investment in the Super League, stating, "Definitely. 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's strength in depth was evident in Fa'alogo's performance, according to Samoa's head coach Ben Gardiner. "We were planning for him [Fa'alogo] to play at some stage, and he just got on a bit earlier than he probably would have thought," Gardiner said. "And to his credit, he went out and had a blinder."
In the Women's Rugby League World Cup, Australia defeated Samoa 40-0. Head coach Jess Skinner, despite the win, highlighted areas for improvement, including the team's starts, finishing of sets, and defense in the initial tackles. Skinner also urged greater crowd support for the women's game at the tournament, noting that many fans left after the preceding men's match.
"Let's get around women in sport, right? All women in sport, particularly at this Rugby League World Cup," Skinner said. "We've got a lot of talented women across all the teams and the message would be to stay and support that. Something really cool's happening in this generation of sport, with our ladies, and you're going to miss history-making moments at this World Cup, no doubt."