Canada coach Kieran Crowley was proud to see the emerging nation punching above their weight against France at the Rugby World Cup.

The Canadians suffered a 41-18 bonus-point defeat in Milton Keynes on Thursday, but Crowley was buoyed by the performance.

Pool D leaders France preserved their perfect record, though they forced to toil at Stadium MK, especially in the first half as Canada closed to within 17-12 via DTH Van der Merwe and Aaron Carpenter before half-time.

"I am really proud of the performance. We did well to get to within six points of France but made basic mistakes and you can't afford to do that against a top team," Crowley said in his post-match media conference.

"We are disappointed with how the result went but I am happy we competed for long periods."

Crowley added: "I think we have progressed massively in the backs. One thing we have tried to do is play rugby and you can see that coming through.

"We lack experience but we played well. We need to be more dynamic in future though."

Canada captain Tyler Ardron was also full of praise for his team-mates, who managed to score two tries against the three-time runners-up.

Van der Merwe crossed over in the 31st minute for his third try of the World Cup and Carpenter got in on the action three minutes later.

"We showed we can play exciting rugby," Ardron said. "We got in behind them and made them chase us.

"We played our rugby and it paid off for those five minutes."