Rugby World Cup: France beat Italy 39-3 to storm into semi-finals

France 39-3 Italy, Northland Events Centre, Whangarei

Joanna Grisez scored a hat-trick as France trounced Italy 39-3 in the quarter-final of the World Cup at Northland Events Centre on Saturday.

France will now be facing the winner of New Zealand and Wales in the semi-final to be played at Eden Park in Auckland on 12th November.

It took France just three minutes to score their first try as Grisez passed on to Boulard before collecting a return pass to finish under the posts from 40m out. Caroline Drouin kicked the conversion to make it 7-0.

With Italy penalised for playing the ball on the ground, France were given an opportunity to extend their lead but Drouin's penalty drifted wide in the 19th minute. Even though Italy were desperate for a breakthrough, France held their defence firm to keep them scoreless until the 39th minute when Madossou Fall infringed on off side and Michela Sillari landed a penalty goal which was also their only points in the game.

With the half-time approaching, Italy were down to 14 players temporarily with Maria Magatti sin-binned for playing the ball down to ground and Drouin landed a three-pointer as France completed the opening half with a 10-3 lead.

France looked threatening in the second half as Escudero powered past a couple of defenders but while looking to ground the ball she lost possession. As Lucia Gai was penalised for angling in, Drouin landed a penalty goal to extend their lead to 13-3.

The start of the final quarter saw a professional foul committed by Turani denying France a try but the referee had to interfere sending the Italy fullback to sin bin while also awarding a penalty try for France, who stepped up the gear further as Laure Touye rumbled forward for their third try with Drouin's conversion making it 27-3.

Grisez completed her second in the 68th minute after collecting a crisp long pass from Gabrielle Vernier before completing her hat-trick in the 70th minute after good work carried out by N'Diaye. Queyroi, who missed out the previous conversion kicked the two-pointer to steer France to a 36 point victory.

"It was a good game because we won, but it was difficult to score a lot of the time," said France coach Thomas Darracq.

"The most important thing for us was the different tries; with forwards, with backs, in different phases of the game – that is good for the future."

Italy skipper Elisa Giordano was pleased with her team's performance in the competition.

"We are happy to be here and to get to the quarter-final but we need to start from this and improve in the next year - maybe in the next World Cup and get to the semifinal," she said.