Tonga stun feeble France in RWC

Tonga played with power and passion to cause the boilover of the Rugby World Cup to defeat France 19-14 in Wellington on Saturday.

The Pacific Island nation, ranked 13th in the world upset the fifth ranked France with a display that mixed aggression with discipline.

Photos: Saturday's games

Related: Tonga coach revels in huge win

A first half try to winger Sukanaivalu Hufanga and 14 points from first five-eighth Kurt Morath were enough to stun the northern hemisphere giants and leave the majority of the 32,763 crowd in raptures.

Tonga played like a side that had enjoyed their 10-day break since their last match while France looked like a side on holiday.

Tonga should have won by more, but they botched numerous scoring opportunities in the second half, including three penalty kicks by Morath and exit the tournament ruing their 25-20 loss to Canada.

They will automatically qualify for the 2015 event unless Canada beat the All Blacks on Sunday.

France advance into the quarter-finals, but will progress with little confidence.

Morath, in tandem with lively halfback Taniela Moa, controlled the game to keep the Sea Eagles on the front foot.

Moa was a constant menace, creating numerous breaks and, after two Dimitri Yachvili penalties had given France a 6-3 lead midway through the first half, his break led to the opening try.

Morath's cross kick bounced kindly into the arms of Hufanga, who fended off the tackle of Julien Bonnaire to cross in the corner.

Hufanga was harshly yellow-carded for an alleged tip tackle with three minutes left in the half but Tonga took a deserved 13-6 into the break.

A third Yachvili penalty narrowed the gap after the resumption before two Morath penalties took the game out of the reach of France.

France lost replacement centre Fabrice Estebanez after he too was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle and only winger Vincent Clerc's late try ensured they got the point they needed to make the last eight.