France beaten

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33985, 28 October 1975, Page 28

France beaten

\fNZ P A Staff Correspondent> PERPIGNAN, (France). The referee, Mr Bill}’ Thompson, has tipped Australia’s victorious international series Rugbj’ league team to beat England next Saturday after its 41-2 win over France in Perpignan.

Mr Thompson handled the' Perpignan match during , I which he attracted a barrage 'of drink cans on to the field [after awarding two quick , | penalties against France in [the opening minutes. !i The French team offered far more resistance than the score indicated and inj [patches looked quite good. But the Australians played ,a better brand of football,! and this plus their backing up [ made the big difference in [scores. i The win clinched the! series for Australia, but the: team’ still regards next Sat-: urday’s match against Eng-' land at Wigan as the actual’ : final. England now trails Aus-j tralia by three championship! I points.

Mr Thompson thought Australia would be extremely hard to beat and it should be the favourite

against England, which beat New Zealand 27-12 in Bradford at the week-end.

Steve Rogers, who played with six stitches in his upper lip after being injured against Wales, was the most brilliant back on the field. Apart from scoring two tries, he frequently beat the defence with his side-step-ping.

The Australian forward’ play was masterminded by Arthur Beetson. The French held Australia scoreless for the first 12 minutes, and then after Australia had rushed from the half-time score of 20-2 to 35-2 after 57 minutes there was no further score until Rogers’s second try 18 minutes later. Championship standings:—

p w D L F A Pts 1 Australia 7 6 1 0 185 53 13 England ■7 4 2 1 151 71 10 N. Zealand z *> 3 97 124 6 France 7 1 1 .) 38 181 3 Wales ft 1 0 5 62 104 Q