France were well off the pace against an impressive Fiji outfit

France coach John Monie has called for the inclusion of a second French side in Super League after his players were thrashed 42-6 by Fiji at the World Cup.

Twelve of France's squad are from Catalans Dragons, with two others also in Super League, but the rest play in the French domestic league.

"To make us a little bit stronger, we can't just rely on Catalans," he said.

"We've got to push to get a second team in Super League and to make our talent pool a little bit bigger."

The Dragons, who also have a number of Australian and Kiwi players in their squad, have established themselves as one of the best sides in Super League, qualifying for this season's play-offs and reaching the 2007 Challenge Cup final.

But there is a significant drop in standard to the next tier of French rugby league, with the domestic championship failing to develop enough players ready for the rigours of Test rugby.

Toulouse applied for one of the 14 Super League licences and lost out to Salford and the Celtic Crusaders, but they will be playing in National League One next season.

France, who beat Scotland 36-18 in their first game of the tournament last week, went into the game against Fiji as favourites but found themselves totally outclassed in Wollongong.

"You've just got to go with what you've got and we certainly didn't shift the ball around enough to ask any questions of their defensive line," Monie said.

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"But when you step up and you play against a football team that have got a lot of points in them and the forwards are nice and tight, we just didn't find any room down the middle."

Monie said Fiji's sparkling play with ball in hand had simply proved too much for his players.

"Like all the players I'm disappointed, we should have played better football than that, they had too much enthusiasm," added Monie.

"And certainly when they shifted the ball I knew they had points in them and defensively we had to restrict them to much less than that."

Fiji captain Wes Naiqama, who kicked seven goals in his side's win, said the performance had exceeded even his expectations.

"We've been preparing for this for the last six weeks and for it to all come together the way it did was a massive effort from the boys and a credit to the coaching staff," said Naiqama.

"So I'm rapt in the way the boys played and just looking forward to next game."

Fiji coach Joe Dakuitoga added: "We're here to compete. We're not here to make up the numbers."

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