France 12-62 New Zealand

New Zealand reached top spot in the Gillette Four Nations table with a 62-12 win over France in Toulouse.

France, missing players through illness, injury and suspension, held their own until fifty minutes in.

From that point the Kiwis took full control of the game with eight unanswered tries in the final half hour.

New Zealand quickly opened up a 10-0 lead when Thomas Leuluai sent Benji Marshall over, followed by a try from Sam Perrett converted by Bryson Goodwin.

The hosts hit back when Sebastien Martins squeezed between two tacklers to score, Thomas Bosc converting, but a try from Lance Hohaia converted by Goodwin gave New Zealand a 16-6 lead at the interval.

France were first to score after the restart through Frederick Vaccari, Bosc’s goal cutting the gap to just four points, but from that point the Kiwis were in full control.

Perrett grabbed two tries to complete his hat-trick, Jarred Waerea-Hargreaves also scored two and Hohaia crossed for a second, all but one of these converted by Goodwin.

Goodwin also added the conversion to a tries from Frank Nuuausala and Junior Sau, and to his own try, bringing the final score to 62-12.

France – 12

T: Martins (22); Vaccari (42)
G: Bosc (22, 42)

New Zealand – 62

T: Marshall (5); Perrett (11, 51, 73); Hohaia (39, 60); Waerea-Hargreaves (54, 80); Nuuausala (57); Sau (62); Goodwin (77)
G: Goodwin (11, 39, 51, 54, 57, 60, 62, 77, 80)

HT: 6-16
Ref: Shayne Hayne
Att: 12,412