France 34 Greece 12: Greeks impress but French earn World Cup win

The French will therefore go into Saturday’s meeting with England at Bolton knowing a win would secure a quarter-final place and eliminate Samoa, who were among the pre-tournament favourites.

Despite playing well within themselves, France were never in any danger of suffering a shock at the hands of the tournament debutants, but will need a big improvement to threaten England.

Greece are at the bottom of a steep learning curve, but while they lack international experience, there was no doubting their spirit.

Famously, rugby league was banned in France during the second world war, a blow from which it has never fully recovered. The sport in Greece has been through something similar much more recently, the Greek Rugby League Association being granted official recognition by the nation’s government only two months ago.

Before that, participants faced the threat of arrest and matches and training had to be held in secret, so they have overcome huge odds just to reach the tournament’s starting line.

Having drawn with Championship side Bradford Bulls in their warm-up game, expectations weren’t high, but Greece played better than anticipated.

They showed their adventurous nature by tapping a series of kickable penalties before opening their account and were eventually rewarded by two of the game’s final three tries.

France led 26-0 late in the third quarter when half-back Jordan Meads stabbed a perfectly-judged kick to the left flank and winger Siteni Taukamo ran through to score.

In the final minute, another kick to the left was taken by centre Nicholas Mougios who finished strongly, Lachlan Ilias adding both conversions to make the final scoreline highly respectable.

France took a more pragmatic approach, supplementing their five tries with a couple of penalty goals, the second when they were 20 points ahead.

Their 17 was drawn entirely from Super League, 13 of them featuring for fourth-placed Catalans Dragons, but they were prepared to grind down spirited opposition and only a couple of their tries were the result of any real flair.

The French certainly have players capable of troubling England, chief among them being Catalans stand-off Arthur Mourgue, who created one try, scored another and kicked seven goals from as many attempts.

France led 20-0 at the interval, through tries by Jordan Dezaria, Tony Gigot and Benjamin Jullien. Mourgue finished off a nice move also involving Gigot, Matthieu Laguerre and Mickaael Goudemand eight minutes into the second half, but France’s next try didn’t come until five minutes from time when Jullien crossed for his second.

France: Escare, Romano, Langi, Laguerre, Yaha, Murgue, Gigot, Dezaria, Da Costa, Belmas, Jullien, Seguier, Garcia. Subs Pelissier, Sangare, Le Cam, Goudemand.

Greece: Robinson, Taukamo, Constantinou, Mougios, Mitsias, Ilias, Meads, Tuliatu, Mamouzelos, Sell, Zampetides, Flocas, Magoulias. Subs Kambos, Gal, Nianiakas, Dardamanis.

Referee: Adam Gee (Australia).