France Beat Nigeria 36–8 As Kessely Scores Four Tries

France beat Nigeria 36–8 on Saturday, 1 August 2026, at Stade Gilbert Brutus in Perpignan. France led 14–4 at half-time, and winger Haoua Kessely scored four tries in the nations’ first senior women’s rugby league meeting. This was an international for world ranking points, not a World Cup fixture. International Rugby League’s match record confirms the result and status.

Choose the full match or either half to compare points, tries and successful goals.

France Won By 28 Points In Perpignan

Match Detail	Recorded Result
Full-time	France Women 36–8 Nigeria Women
Half-time	France 14–4 Nigeria
Winning margin	28 points
Date	1 August 2026
Venue	Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan, France
Status	Senior women’s international for world ranking points
Playing time	Two 35-minute halves; 70 minutes in total

The 36–8 score is the final result, not the score at the interval. France’s advantage was ten points at half-time and 28 points at full-time. The hosts therefore increased their lead by 18 points after the break.

The venue also identifies the home side: the match took place in Perpignan, France. Nigeria were the visiting team. It was the first senior women’s rugby league meeting between these nations, so this result establishes their opening head-to-head entry rather than extending an existing series described in the reports.

The distinction between an international and a World Cup match matters for the record book. France used the game as preparation for the 2026 Women’s Rugby League World Cup, but preparation does not make the fixture part of that tournament. Its result belongs in the senior women’s international record, with the ranking-points status recorded by IRL.

Seven France Tries And Four Goals Made 36

Team	Try Scorers	Successful Goals
France	Haoua Kessely 4; Anais Andral, Elisa Akpa and Manon Samarra 1 each	Lisa Diraison 4
Nigeria	Lauretta Bayere and Odiri Becky Okitikpe 1 each	None

The scorer list is recorded by IRL and corroborated by Total Rugby League’s report. France had four different try scorers, while Nigeria had two. Kessely was the only player credited with more than one try.

France’s seven tries supplied 28 points, and Lisa Diraison’s four successful conversions added eight. The scoring calculation is seven tries × four points plus four goals × two points = 36 points.

Nigeria’s two tries supplied all eight of their points. Neither was converted, and no Nigerian goal is recorded. Their calculation is two tries × four points = eight points.

Kessely’s four tries were worth 16 points before any conversions were added to the team total. Andral, Akpa and Samarra supplied the other three French tries, worth 12 points between them. Diraison’s eight points from the boot completed the scoring.

Those totals reconcile exactly with the final score. There is no unexplained point left over that would require another scoring event to make the arithmetic work. The result can be accounted for entirely by the named tries and the four successful French goals.

The two sources do differ over how many conversion attempts Diraison took. That discrepancy does not change her successful-goal total or the final score; it does limit what can safely be said about her kicking accuracy.

Kessely Had A Hat-Trick Before Half-Time

Kessely opened the scoring for France. Nigeria responded through Lauretta Bayere after Adaeze Precious Innocent made a break and supplied an inside pass. That sequence accounts for Nigeria’s first try and shows that their opening score was an answer to France’s early lead.

Kessely completed her hat-trick before the interval. Her three first-half tries supplied 12 of France’s 14 points. The remaining two points came from a successful goal, which can be inferred from the half-time score and the recorded scoring events.

Nigeria’s four points at the break came from Bayere’s unconverted try. France therefore reached half-time three tries to one ahead, as well as ten points ahead on the scoreboard.

That distinction separates the try count from the points margin. France’s two additional first-half tries were worth eight points; the successful conversion accounted for the other two points of their lead. It was not a half decided primarily by goal kicking: Kessely’s repeated finishes provided most of the hosts’ scoring.

The available account establishes this sequence and the interval score, but the supplied draft does not include a minute-by-minute scoring log. Exact try times should therefore not be attached to these events. The secure milestones are Kessely’s opening try, Nigeria’s reply, her completed first-half hat-trick and France’s 14–4 interval advantage.

France Outscored Nigeria 22–4 After The Break

Period	France	Nigeria	France’s Margin
First half	14	4	10
Second half	22	4	18
Full match	36	8	28

The second-half score is calculated by subtracting each team’s half-time total from its full-time total. France scored 36 minus 14 = 22 points after the break; Nigeria scored eight minus four = four.

Andral crossed for France, while Bayere set up Odiri Becky Okitikpe for Nigeria’s second try. France then finished strongly through Akpa, Kessely’s fourth try and Samarra. Total Rugby League describes the hosts as dominant in the final 20 minutes.

France’s second-half scoring consisted of four tries and three successful goals. The four tries were worth 16 points, leaving six points from conversions to reach the calculated second-half total of 22. Those three successful kicks, together with the one inferred before half-time, reconcile with Diraison’s four goals for the match.

Nigeria again scored one unconverted try. Their points output was therefore the same in each half, even though the try scorer changed from Bayere to Okitikpe.

France’s output increased from 14 points before the interval to 22 afterwards. They added one more try and two more successful goals than in the first half. This explains the widening margin without needing possession figures or territory statistics that the supplied draft does not provide.

The 22–4 figure is a period score, not another reported final result. Likewise, the 18-point second-half margin describes France’s advantage within that half. Their overall winning margin remained 28 points because they carried a ten-point lead into the break.

The Match Used Two 35-Minute Halves

The game lasted 70 minutes, with two 35-minute halves under NRLW rules. The stated purpose of that format was to assist France’s preparation for the 2026 Women’s Rugby League World Cup. Both the IRL preview and report specify the format, and Total Rugby League confirms the 70-minute duration.

That length is part of this fixture’s record, not evidence that every women’s international uses the same playing time. A comparison with another match needs to check the format of that match separately. Our guide to rugby league match length explains the duration distinction.

For this result, the two halves provide equal-length periods for comparing the teams’ scoring. France’s 22 second-half points were scored within the same scheduled playing time as their 14 first-half points. Nigeria scored four points in each of those periods.

The scheduled duration also gives context to the report’s description of France’s strong final 20 minutes. That passage refers to the closing part of this 70-minute game. It should not be turned into an exact scoring timeline: the supplied account does not give enough timestamps to assign each late try to a particular minute.

Keep the duration attached to the score when comparing attacking totals across internationals. France’s seven tries and 36 points are the recorded achievements here; extending those totals to a different match length would produce a hypothetical figure, not another result.

Diraison’s Four Goals Are Agreed; Her Attempts Are Not

Source	Diraison’s Goal Entry	Agreed Points
International Rugby League	4/6	8
Total Rugby League	4/7	8

IRL displays Diraison’s goals as 4/6, while Total Rugby League lists 4/7. Both entries credit her with four successful kicks, so both support the eight kicking points included in France’s 36.

The disagreement concerns the denominator: six attempts in one source and seven in the other. The supplied material does not resolve which attempt count is correct. Seven French tries do not, by themselves, settle that discrepancy in the recorded kicking entries.

For that reason, the scorer table and interactive comparison use successful goals only. Neither presents a single conversion percentage. Choosing one denominator without explaining the conflict would make the record look more certain than the evidence allows.

The same restriction applies to descriptions of missed kicks. The sources agree on the successful kicks, but their different attempt totals imply different numbers of misses. The reliable match summary is therefore “Lisa Diraison four goals,” with the attempt-count disagreement retained separately.

This is a narrow uncertainty. It does not put the winning team, the 36–8 final score, the 14–4 half-time score or Kessely’s four tries in dispute. All of those details remain consistent across the cited accounts.

Record This As An International, Not A World Cup Result

The compact record is: France Women 36, Nigeria Women eight; half-time 14–4; Stade Gilbert Brutus, Perpignan; 1 August 2026; 70 minutes. France scored seven tries and four goals, Nigeria two tries and no goals, and Kessely supplied four of the French tries.

For a results database, the competition distinction should remain explicit: this was a senior women’s international played for world ranking points. France’s World Cup preparation explains the selected format, but it does not change the fixture’s classification.

For a scoring-history entry, keep the successful-goal total separate from the unresolved attempts. For a head-to-head entry, identify it as the nations’ first senior women’s rugby league meeting. Those details preserve what the reports establish without adding an unsupported tournament result, conversion percentage or minute-by-minute chronology.