Manu Samoa rugby coach Alama Ieremia says his side were guilty of missing tackles and giving away too much ball as France romped to a 52-8 victory in Toulouse at the weekend.
The Manu defence leaked seven tries, with a seventh minute penalty kick from Patrick Faapale and Rey Lee-Lo try immediately after half-time all the visitors had to show for 80 minutes.
Rey Lee-Lo scored the only try for Samoa early in the second half. Photo: AFP
Alama Ieremia said it was a tough night at the office.
"If you start missing tackles at the top level and turn the ball over at the top level you get punished - especially by a very quality tier one country like France," he said.
That first half we made far too many errors for this level and we learnt a very harsh lesson."
"There was a couple of key turnovers...and we just lost that momentum and we had no possession in the first half - and obviously you need the ball to actually get some territory and some points - and when we did get the ball we turned it over and France obviously got the points.
"We brought a lot more energy in the second half but unfortunately that didn't last that long so once again you get punished at critical stages of the game."
France midfielder Wesley Fofana gets on the outside of Samoa hooker Manu Leiataua. Photo: AFp
Lock Chris Vui, number eight Genesis Mamea and replacement hooker Elia Elia all made their test debut at the weekend.
Alama Ieremia said there were some bright spots individually in what was a poor overall performance.
"Individually there was some pretty stand out performances I believe, (we) had some really good impact from some of our news players and they added some momentum for bits and pieces during the game," he said.
"I thought our new boys, they learnt a harsh lesson as well for some of them but they will be better off for it.
"I think there are some good lessons that come out of this and we just need to regroup quickly - the leadership group have already made a call so we'll just start focusing on Georgia straight away."
The Manu now travel to Tbilisi to face Georgia, who suffered a narrow 28-22 defeat by Japan at the weekend.
