Rugby League World Cup: Samoa 62-4 France - Taylan May scores four tries as Samoa reach quarter-finals

Winger Taylan May scored four tries on his World Cup debut as Samoa cruised past France to reach the last eight in the men's competition.

The Penrith Panthers player, known as Tiny, tormented the French defence with his speed and skill.

There were also doubles for Salford Red Devils centre Tim Lafai, Brian To'o and Anthony Milford in a dominant display.

Samoa will now face Group D winners Tonga in the quarter-finals in Warrington next Sunday.

Both sides had lost to England and beaten Greece in their other Pool A games ensuring this was a winner-takes-all encounter.

And it took Samoa just four minutes to open the scoring through Lafai who got on to the end of Jarome Luai's kick for his third try of the competition after he received a late call-up because of a raft of injuries.

The powerful Samoans, who had disappointed in the 60-6 defeat by England before a much-improved display against Greece, stepped up their performance again and are starting to look like contenders.

• Fixtures, results and BBC coverage times

To'o and May put them 16-0 up before France started to get better field position but they were unable to make an impact on the scoreboard and were punished when a swift counter-attack put May in for his second.

He completed his hat-trick just before the break before adding a fourth to open the second-half scoring but the younger brother of team-mate Tyrone May, whose tournament ended after he suffered a dislocated hip against England, was withdrawn shortly afterwards.

To'o grabbed his second before Fouad Yaha got the French side on the scoreboard. But the Samoans maintained their dominance with Anthony Milford (two), Lafai with his second and Chanel Harris-Tavita all going over.

Samoa coach Matt Parish: "I am happy to win any Test match by that type of score. Tiny May was sensational for his first World Cup run, but our forwards were enormous particularly in the first 20 minutes when they laid the platform and allowed the backs to capitalise.

"We knew we would be underdone in game one but we have improved in game two and I thought we improved again tonight. We will have to improve again next week but we will enjoy tonight and go from there."

Samoa: Suaali'I, To'o, Crichton, Lafai, Mai, Luai, Milford, Hunt, Levi, Paulo, Sao, Su'a, Kaufusi.

Interchanges: Harris-Tavita, Papali'I, Leniu, Taupa'u

France: Morgue, Romano, Langi, Laguerre, Yaha, Rouge, Gigot, Dezaria, Da Costa, Springer, Jullien, Seguier, Garcia.

Interchanges: Sangare, Pelissier, Goudemand, Puech

• Their dream home turned into a nightmare: A brand-new paranormal cold case investigation

• Fancy a movie tonight? Check out the stellar selection of films on BBC iPlayer