LILLE, France –

A largely reshuffled France showed a worrying lack of discipline and a certain nonchalance as it labored to a 27-12 victory against an inspired Uruguay in its second World Cup game on Thursday.

Fabien Galthie's choice to make 12 changes from the team that beat three-time champion New Zealand in the opening game on Sept. 9 nearly backfired, as France was never fully in control at Pierre Mauroy Stadium, and only secured the win in the final minutes.

France prevailed with tries by Antoine Hastoy, Peato Mauvaka and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, with the rest of the points coming from the boot of the reliable Melvyn Jaminet.

Uruguay scored two fine tries by Nicolas Freitas and Baltazar Amaya, as Felipe Etcheverry could only kick a conversion.

France leads Pool A with eight points, three ahead of Italy. New Zealand faces Namibia in Toulouse on Friday.

"Credit to Uruguay," France's general manager Raphale Ibanez said. "They played with so much passion and heart. It was the second win for us in this competition which was important.

"We made a few mistakes with ball in hand and it was difficult for us to play with good structure. We didn't take the points with ball in hand at the end of the second half."

Uruguay captain Andres Vilaseca was beaming with pride after the contest.

"I'm so proud of my team," he said. "I couldn't ask for a better team to lead. That's the truth.

"Today, 10 minutes left of the game, we were fighting against France, one of the best teams in the world, playing at their home ground. This is only the beginning for us."

It was Uruguay's first match in this World Cup, and it started its campaign with great fanfare, with an early try by Freitas silencing the home crowd.

The winger touched down in the corner after collecting a cross-field kick from Felipe Aliaga, showing that the South Americans have more to offer than courage and grit.

The hosts responded quickly after torturing their opponents in the scrum, with Hastoy going over and Jaminet converting to put them ahead 10-5.

France thought it was the early break it needed, but the visitors had other ideas.

Romain Taofifenua was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle, and Uruguay threatened through Freitas and was denied a try after Tomas Inciarte was harshly ruled to have blocked a French tackler.

Undisciplined in the scrum and bothered by Uruguay in the mauls, France was only ahead 13-5 at halftime.

Uruguay reduced the deficit with a superb try by Amaya, who evaded a tackle before touching down in the corner.

Les Bleus were somehow lucky to extend their lead shortly afterward, as Mauvaka scored a try after Felipe Etcheverry's kick in traffic bounced onto the back of a teammate and into the path of the French hooker.

Jaminet's conversion put France ahead 20-12, and Bielle-Biarrey, the youngest French player to take part in a World Cup, scored a try to put the result beyond doubt with seven minutes left.

France lock Cameron Woki labeled his team's showing as "unacceptable" after Les Bleus were penalized 15 times.

"Fifteen penalties is huge," he said. "It's unacceptable at (the) international level, we're lucky to win after being penalized so many times.

"We had worked hard (on discipline). We wanted to do something good and we just showed we were an ill-disciplined team.

"It's very frustrating. We struggled in the scrums, we knew we were better but then we were not patient. We have to be patient."