France v Tonga Live

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France will take on Tonga on Saturday, October 1 in a game that is important for the French side. And in a small way, it is also a vital match for Tonga, who will be looking to gun for the third spot in the points table. The match will begin at 1800 hours local time at the Wellington Regional Stadium.

Interestingly, the two sides have played each other three times, and Tonga have been able to get the better of their opponents on one of the occasions. France have won two games of them. However, the last time they played was way back in 2005, and the French had been able to beat Tonga, 43-8.

Despite the one-sided loss to the All Blacks in the previous game, the French coach Marc Lievermont has made only three changes to the side and that seemed to have surprised the pundits. More interestingly, the coach has been at a war with the French media and that has meant that the relations between the team and the media have not been at the best, which means that the side could feel a tad distracted at the current moment.

Morgan Parra will continue at fly-half even though it wasn’t a success at all.

On the other side, Isitolo Maka will go into the game with their best side possible, given the delicate situation that they find themselves in. Captain Finau Maka, who hasn’t had a great tournament because of his injury issues, will be back to play this one, and that should boost his side’s chances.

France go into the game with two wins and a loss, and a win here should put them to the quarter-finals at the second spot. However, if they lose this one, they will be left with 10 or 11 points and Tonga may just have an outside chance of going through. Tonga will be more interested in taking away one point from this game and ending third on the table.

TEAMS:

France: 1. Jean-Baptiste Poux, 2. William Servat, 3. Luc Ducalcon, 4. Pascal Pape, 5. Lionel Nallet, 6. Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 7. Julien Bonnaire, 8. Raphael Lakafia, 9. Dimitri Yachvili, 10. Morgan Parra, 11. Alexis Palisson, 12. Maxime Mermoz, 13. Aurelien Rougerie, 14. Vincent Clerc, 15. Maxime Medard.

Reserves: 16. Dimitri Szarzewski, 17. Fabien Barcella, 18. Julien Pierre, 19. Imanol Harinordoquy, 20. Francois Trinh-Duc, 21. Fabrice Estebanez, 22. Cedric Heymans.

Tonga: 1. Soane Tonga’uiha, 2. Aleki Lutui, 3. Kisi Pulu, 4. Tukulua Lokotui, 5. Paino Hehea, 6. Sione Kalamafoni, 7. Finau Maka (capt), 8. Viliami Ma’afu, 9. Taniela Moa, 10. Kurt Morath, 11. Sukanaivalu Hufanga, 12. Andrew Ma’ilei, 13. Siale Piutau, 14. Viliame Iongi, 15. Vungakoto Lilo.

Reserves: 16. Ephraim Taukafa, 17. Alisona Taumalolo, 18. Halani Aulika, 19. Joseph Tuineau, 20. Samiu Vahafolau, 21. Thomas Palu, 22. Alipate Fatafehi.