By James Standley
Sale Sharks star Sebastien Chabal grabbed a brace of second-half tries
France (40) 87
Tries: Heymans, Marty, Dussatoir, Nallet 2, Clerc 3, Bonnaire, Chabal 2, Elissalde, Ibanez
Cons: Elissalde 11 Heymans, Marty, Dussatoir, Nallet 2, Clerc 3, Bonnaire, Chabal 2, Elissalde, IbanezElissalde 11 Namibia (3) 10
Tries: Langenhoven
Cons: Losper
Drop-goals: Wessels
Hosts France got their stuttering World Cup campaign back on track by recording the largest win in their history.
They scored 13 tries against a Namibia side reduced to 14 men after 20 minutes when Jacques Nieuwenhuis was sent off for a high tackle on Sebastien Chabal.
Cedric Heymans, David Marty, Thierry Dussatoir, Lionel Nallet (2) and Vincent Clerc crossed before the break.
And Julien Bonnaire, Chabal (2), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Clerc (2) and Raphael Ibanez added further tries.
France are engaged in a three-way fight with Argentina and Ireland for the two quarter-final places in Pool D and they had no margin for error after their 17-12 defeat by the Pumas which opened the tournament.
Ireland's subsequent struggles to beat both Georgia and Namibia will have given a boost to the hosts' shattered confidence.
And with Ireland having failed to secure a bonus point against Georgia, the bonus point France earned by scoring four tries on Sunday could prove vital.
606: DEBATE
Toulouse is the biggest city in the French rugby heartland in the south west of the country and Les Bleus played with real joie de vivre in front of their passionate fans.
Heymans had been horribly exposed at full-back as Argentina rained high kicks down on him in the first night disaster in Paris, but he was back on the wing on Sunday and grabbed the first try after seven minutes.
The Toulouse crowd greeted the score rapturously and although Namiabia fly-half Emile Wessels soon trimmed the gap as he popped over a sweetly-struck drop-goal, there remained plenty to keep the home faithful happy.
Marty scored the second try after a sublime piece of deception from former Toulouse fly-half Frederic Michalak, who is heading to South African side the Sharks, sparked a long-range attack.
Elissalde, who failed with his first conversion attempt, made no mistake with the extras and France led 12-3.
Any distant hopes Namibia had of upsetting the hosts soon suffered a hammer blow as number eight Nieuwenhuis, who had already been spoken to by the referee for a high tackle, was sent off after laying out Chabal.
Namibia fought hard but were outgunned as France came to life
Dussatoir was driven over after France kicked the penalty to the corner and they added three more tries before the break.
Clerc skated over in between a brace from giant Castres second row Nallet, and four Elissalde conversions meant the hosts led 40-3 at half-time with the bonus point already safely tucked away.
Soon after the re-start the France pack drove the seven-man Namibia pack back over their own line to hand a push-over try to Bonnaire before Chabal, who has become a French folk hero in recent months, exploded into life.
First he pouched Elissalde's cute kick from a penalty to open his account before bursting clear from the halfway line and brushing off three men to score the most popular try of the night.
The fiesta continued until just before the final whistle with Elissalde, Clerc, who grabbed a quick-fire brace, and Ibanez all crossing.
The final word went to Namibia as centre Bradley Langenhoven grabbed an interception try, which was converted by Tertius Losper, in the last minute.
But, with Elissalde including 11 conversions in his personal haul of 27 points, France recorded their record win and they will go into Friday's crunch match against Ireland in a far more positive frame of mind.
"Since that Friday, we thought the memory of that result might cause us problems. But we were committed and brave. We showed the spirit necessary to pick ourselves up.
"When bad things happen, we have to keep playing our best to revive our honour. We had to drive our World Cup forward in this match.
"If we hadn't done this, we could have found ourselves in trouble. We respect the Namibians. They didn't pose us too many problems though. The team as a whole played very well, especially in the last 20 minutes. We scored many tries. We played to our strengths."
"No matter who the team, they would have finished up with a result like we did. The score could have been 120-0. It was very hard for us.
"However, the French still made quite a few errors, but they managed to score a lot of tries."
France: Poitrenaud; Clerc, Marty, Traille, Heymans; Michalak, Elissalde; Poux, Szarzewski, de Villiers, Chabal, Nallet, Nyanga, Dusautoir, Bonnaire.
Replacements: Ibanez, Mas, Pelous, Harinordoquy, Beauxis, Jauzion, Rougerie.
Namibia: Losper; Witbooi, Langenhoven, van Zyl, Bock; Wessels, van Tonder; Lensing (capt), Horn, du Toit, Kazombiaze, Esterhuize, Burger, MacKenzie, Nieuwenhuis.
Replacements: Meyer, Redelinghuys, Lindvelt, du Plessis, Jantjies, Botes, Africa.
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Las naciones del Pacífico buscaban lugares clasificatorios en la etapa de eliminaciones de la Copa Mundial de Rugby 2007.

El seleccionado de Fiyi superó a Canadá por 29–16, ganando un punto bonus que le dio el segundo lugar en el grupo B. El seleccionado de Tonga venció sobre Samoa por 15–19 en el grupo A. La selección de Francia destrozó a Namibia por 87–10 en el grupo D. Luego de hacer doce cambios al equipo que perdió ante Argentina, los franceses marcaron 13 tries en su mayor victoria.

=== Fiyi – Canadá ===



Canadá marcó los primeros puntos del partido luego de un penal de James Pritchard. Nicky Little logró igualarlo cuatro minutos después para Fiyi, y tomaron la delantera en el minuto 20 luego de un try de Kele Leawere. Canadá se amntuvo con otro penal de Pritchard, pero Fiyi extendió la diferencía a 15–6 cuando Kameli Ratuvou marcó su try.

Luego del medio tiempo, Vilimoni Delasau otorgó a Fiyi su tercer try, pero Canadá se aproximó a tan solo 6 puntos luego de un try de Ryan Smith y un tercer penal de Pritchard. Kameli Ratuvou selló la victoria y el punto bonus crucial para Fiyi luego de un try de último minuto, dejando el partido en un 29–16.

Fiyi se encuentra segundo en el grupo B con diez puntos, sobre Gales con cinco y detrás de Australia. Canadá está último lugar del grupo, a un punto de Japón.

=== Tonga – Samoa ===



En el grupo A, Tonga se llevó una sorpresiva victoria sobre Samoa. Pierre Hola los llevó en la delantera con un penal en el tercer minuto, pero Gavin Williams de Samoa acertó cuatro penales dando una ventaja a Samoa. Hola pateó un segundo penal para Tonga en el minuto 38, cerrando en el medio tiempo con 12–6.

Tonga tomó la delantera en la segunda mitad con dos penales más de Pierre Hola y un try de Epeli Taione. Gavin Williams marcó el quinto penal de Samoa, pero Tonga se mantuvo en su triunfo a pesar de haber sufrido la expulsión de un jugador y que otro haya recibido una tarjeta amarilla casi al final del partido.

Tonga está segundo en el grupo A con ocho punto, detrás de Sudáfrica con nueve y sobre Inglaterra con cuatro. Samoa está cuarto en el grupo con tan solo un punto, sobre un Estados Unidos sin puntos.

=== Francia – Namibia ===



Francia marcó 13 tries contra Namibia en su victoria de 87–10. El resultado es el mejor obtenido para Francia en la Rugby Unión.

Habiendo cambiado drásticamente el lado que perdió ante Argentina en el partido inaugural del campeonato, Francia no tuvo problemas en este partido y Cédric Heymans abrió con un try en el minuto 7. Namibia respondió tres minutos después con un drop de Emile Wessels.

David Marty continuó las anotaciones para Francia, pero Namibia perdió un jugador poco después cuando Jacques Nieuwenhuis recibió una tarjeta roja por un tackle peligroso. Francia marcó cuatro tries más en la primera etapa: uno de Thierry Dusautoir, otro de Vincent Clerc y dos de Lionel Nallet para llevar el marcador a 40–3 para cuando llegó el medio tiempo.

Vincent Clerc marcó otros dos tries más en la segunda mita, y Julien Bonnaire, Sébastien Chabal (2), Jean-Baptiste Élissalde y Raphaël Ibañez marcaron más. Bratley Langenhoven marcó un try tardío y de consuelo para Namibia y redujo la ventaja de Francia a 77 puntos.

Francia está tercera en el grupo D con seis puntos, mientras que Argentina e Irlanda lideran con 9 puntos cada uno. Namibia está último con ningún punto, y cuarto está Georgia con un punto.