World Cup overnight: France dominate again; Wales overcome brave USA

Recap

France were once again a class above, stunning Scotland 80-15 on Tuesday (AEDT) to secure their place in the finals. Nicolas Clausells finished with a personal haul of 30 points, thanks to four tries and seven conversions, while Guillaume Mautz, Yann Verdi, Mostefa Abassi and Yann Verdi all got doubles.

France led 50-6 at half-time before scoring five more tries in the second half to come away with a comfortable win.

Scotland's tries were scored by Callum Young, Mike Mellon and Dan Grant and, despite the scoreline, Mark Roughsedge's men fought the match out bravely.

Finishing the game with 56 percent of possession and completing 65 percent of their sets compared to France’s 61 percent, Scotland had plenty of opportunities with the ball but struggled to capitalise on field position.

What the result means 

With two big wins, France have booked their semi-final ticket and will head into the sudden-death matches as competition favourites. First, however, they will face USA next Thursday with the Americans still a chance at moving into the knockout rounds.

Despite being winless so far, Scotland can make the semi-finals if they upset Wales and USA suffer a heavy defeat against France. Scotland will face Wales in the final pool match of the Wheelchair World Cup on Thursday.

Recap

Rounding out week two of the pool matches, Wales overcame a determined USA side 50-32 on Tuesday to earn their first win of the tournament.

In a back-and-forth in battle, both sides found the line on several occasions in the first half but the second half was all Wales, who ran out comfortable winners in the end.

Wales skipper Stuart Williams was enormous for his side, scoring three tries and having a hand in several more, while Garry Preece finished with a double.

Wales were made to work for their win with Jeffrey Townsend a handful in attack for the competition newcomers, USA, finishing the match with a hat-trick.

However, finishing the match with 10 linebreaks to USA's five and 53 tackle breaks to 30, Wales' experience shone through in the end to set up the 18-point victory.

"It was looking like not a great game for us, but we showed heart, we showed determination and also believed in our experience factor. I think that shone through in the end, we had some great set pieces," Wales skipper and player-of-the-match Stuart Williams said after the game.

What the result means 

Wales must beat Scotland in Sheffield on Friday if they hope to qualify for the finals. Wales will head into the match full of confidence after USA defeated the defending champions 62-41 in Round 1.

In just their third competitive match, the newcomers will most likely be playing for pride against competition heavyweights France on Thursday. USA will need to defy great odds to upset the favourites and overturn a points differential to keep their finals hopes alive.