Samoa Shatter World Cup Records in 78-4 Rout of France as Fa'alogo Scores Four

Samoa opened their Rugby League World Cup campaign with a statement nobody will forget, hammering France 78-4 at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta — a new tournament record for both score and winning margin, bettering the 62-4 rout they inflicted on the French at the previous World Cup.

The night belonged to Sua Fa'alogo. Not even in the starting side, the Melbourne flyer came off the bench early and tore Les Chanticleers apart, crossing four times and seeing a fifth try disallowed for obstruction. One match into the tournament, he is already a third of the way to the World Cup record of 12 tries held jointly by Valentine Holmes and Josh Addo-Carr.

The blitz carried a sting for Samoa, though. Opener Deine Mariner touched down after just three minutes before leaving the field with a hamstring complaint — and it was his replacement Fa'alogo who took the game apart, bagging a first-half brace as Samoa led 34-4 at the break.

France struck back through Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet in the 25th minute, but the night had already slipped away after early head knocks to César Rougé and Léo Darrelatour. Stephen Crichton finished with 11 goals and added the final conversion after fulltime, when a freakish bounce off the upright gifted Benaiah Ioelu his second try to seal the record in front of 13,174 fans.