France have recorded their biggest-ever victory to make it three wins from three at the Rugby World Cup, putting Namibia to the sword with a 96-0 win in Marseille this evening.
The host nation were unconvincing en route to beating Uruguay last week, but there were no such concerns this time around as they turned on the style to run riot in front of their home support.
France crossed for 14 tries in total, including eight in a scintillating first-half display which, despite the level of the opposition, underlined exactly why many had tipped them as favourites to win the World Cup for the very first time this year.
The peerless Antoine Dupont was the star of the show once again in that first half, although his second-half withdrawal due to an apparent facial injury after a head clash could prove to be a significant blot on an otherwise perfect evening.
That incident also saw Namibia's captain Johan Deysel sin-binned, with the decision then being upgraded to a red card, following a high tackle which also wiped out Namibia's only try of the match to add insult to injury.
Namibia were also on the wrong end of France's previous biggest win - an 87-10 triumph at the 2007 World Cup, which was also on home soil - and Les Bleus looked well on course to break that when they led 54-0 at the interval - the third-biggest half-time lead in Rugby World Cup history, and France's biggest ever in any Test match.
While Dupont pulled the strings before his worrying departure through injury, he was by no means France's only star on the night as they played some delightful and relentless rugby to tear Namibia apart.
A bonus point was secured within 21 minutes, and by the end of the match Damian Penaud had helped himself to a hat-trick, while Jonathan Danty, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Charles Ollivon all crossed twice each as well, the latter putting the finishing touch to arguably the pick of the bunch.
Thibaud Flament, Baptiste Couilloud and Melvyn Jaminet also went over, before the scoring was capped off by a late penalty try to take France beyond the 90-point mark for the first time ever.
Fabien Galthie's side now have a two-break before they face Italy in their final pool match, while Namibia will hope to regroup ahead of their match against Uruguay next week, which presents their most realistic chance of pulling off a first-ever World Cup win this year.
Barney Corkhill
