The first-round matches of Group A ended much in the way expected with France and the All Blacks still favourites to qualify for the quarter-finals. Although Italy comprehensively beat Namibia they should only finish third.
France 27-13 All Blacks
The attention of the rugby world was on the opening match of the 2023 World Cup between host France and the mighty All Blacks. France came from behind to beat New Zealand 27-13 in an action-packed match. France managed four log points for their effort while the All Blacks still have to open their account.
Ardie Savea captained New Zealand after Sam Cane's late withdrawal through injury. The number eight said: "It's tough when you lose your skip but I thought the boys that came in filled the job right, unfortunately in that last 20 minutes our discipline let us down and we weren't clinical enough. We've got to regroup and keep going forward."
France head coach Fabian Galthie was happy with the way his team bounced back. "They scored very early, rather easily," he said. "Then we lost hooker Julien Marchand. We started the match in the worst possible way - but that’s all part of the game. At the end of the day, it's a heavy score in our favour."
Italy 52-08 Namibia
Italy secured a bonus-point victory as they defeated Namibia 52-8 at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Pool A, dominating the scoreboard in the second half with tries from second-row Dino Lamb, wing Ange Capuozzo, hooker Hame Faiva, back-row Manuel Zuliani and centre Paolo Odogwu.
While pleased with the victory, Italy head coach Kieran Crowley was keen to put the win in perspective. "If you'd given me 50 points before the game I would have grabbed them. But we turned over about 22 balls and you can't afford to do that. “But it was pretty hot out there and the boys are pretty gassed so we'll take it and we'll move on."
Johan Deysel, Namibia’s captain, felt his team-mates had given plenty of effort against “a quality side” but accepted they were beaten by a better team on the day. "We didn't always get the ball we wanted - we got scrappy ball,” said the centre. “We didn't execute what we planned every time and we were put under the pump in the set phases, the mauls and the scrums. They have heaps of experience. It's a great game to learn from."
