France brought its pool B preliminary program of men's handball to a conclusion Sunday afternoon with a convincing 27-22 victory over Germany to finish the group stage with a one hundred percent record of playing five matches and winning five.

During the first half, both teams played with passion and were evenly matched, as proved by the close halftime score of 12-11 to Germany.

France came out after the break looking considerably better organized and managed to block its opponents by playing good defence, while always posing a threat going forward.

Nikola Karabatic of France came from the bench to give an impressive boost to France, scoring five goals in six attempts.

Other key performers included Daniel Narcisse of France, who scored four goals from four attempts and defended perfectly, and Jerome Fernandez of France, who was the match's leading scorer with six goals.

Germany played without Pascal Hens, who was sidelined with injury. Germany's Christian Schwarzer and Florian Kehrmann scored five goals each, while playmaker Stefan Kretzschmar scored three goals and looked impressive throughout.

"It's always difficult to play against Germany," said Bertrand Gille, pivot of France. "They play well as a team and they are very strong physically. We had a very good second half which eventually gave us the victory."

Markus Baur, captain of the German team, described the offence of the French team as "very aggressive" and "solid."

"In the second half France took over the game," he said. "In my opinion, the main problem was our defence."