Teddy Thomas' wonder try helped France to a thrilling 29-26 win over Australia in a bruising encounter at the Stade de France.
France were hanging on at the end but this was a deserved win for Les Bleus, and much-needed for under-fire Philippe Saint-André.
Camille Lopez controlled the game from fly-half, while in Thomas, France have a born finisher. On another day Australia might have nicked it, but just when his team needed him most, Thierry Dusautoir produced two decisive tackles in the last five minutes to secure the win.
Saint-André had chosen to stick with the same starting lineup that beat Fiji in Marseille and was rewarded in the first 30 minutes as Les Bleus played with real intensity in both attack and defence.
Tries from Sébastien Tillous-Borde and Thomas saw France lead 17-6, but from there Australia fought back through Bernard Foley and an Adam Ashley-Cooper try and trailed by just a point at half-time.
As well as France had started, Michael Cheika's team looked much the stronger going into the break and it seemed as if they would power away in the second half. Instead Les Bleus tightened things up, opened up a lead thanks to the boot of Lopez, and despite Rob Simmons' late try, held on for the win.
It was Australia who almost made the perfect start though when Scott Spedding's clearance kick was charged down and Simmons touched down inside a minute. The second row had knocked on while picking up the ball, however, and France's blushes were spared.
In an entertaining opening Les Bleus came within inches of crossing themselves after some great work by Yoann Huget. The winger collected Lopez's cross-kick before beating two men and feeding Spedding inside him only for the full-back to be nudged into touch at the last second by the covering Foley.
Australia then tried to play their way out of trouble from the resulting lineout, and when James Horwill knocked on, Alexandre Dumoulin's wide pass was just too high for Thomas.
France didn't have to wait long for their try though, from the scrum Lopez made a half-break, and with the Australian defence scrambling, Tillous-Borde spotted a gap and darted over from the back of a ruck. Lopez was injured in the move but shrugged that off to convert and make it 7-0.
Just as they had done repeatedly last week against Wales, Australia hit back straightaway, earning a penalty when Tillous-Borde was isolated from the restart. Foley made no mistake to cut the lead to four.
France were almost in again soon after, Lopez again ghosting through a gap before a grubber had Joe Tomane scrambling but the winger just managed to get back into time to palm the ball into touch with Huget lurking.
A Lopez penalty from the next lineout was immediately cancelled out by Foley, with the visitors doing just enough to stay in touch.
Lopez was playing well in general, but for the second time in a row his restart went straight out, giving Australia a scrum on halfway and handing them back possession.
France were nullifying the Australian attack, but the Wallabies had clearly singled out Thomas as a weakness under the high ball and he was twice caught out to give away lineouts in French territory.
But while the winger was struggling in defence, he showed just why he was selected with a sensational individual try. He collected the ball out wide under pressure, before beating Christian Leali'ifano, Ashley-Cooper, Saia Fainga'a and Nick Phipps to go over for his fourth Test try in just his second appearance. Lopez converted again to make it 17-6.
While France deservedly led, the one bright point for Australia was their scrum, which had the upper hand on their French counterparts and even earned a penalty just after the half-hour. Unfortunately for the Wallabies the same could not be said for their misfiring lineout.
When they did manage to secure one though, they sucked in the French defence with a maul before spreading the ball to the right. Foley slipped out of Tillous-Borde's tackle, before finding Ashley-Cooper, who was too strong for Spedding and notched up his 30th Test try. Foley's conversion from out wide made it 17-13 with half-time approaching.
France looked to be running out of steam and when Pascal Papé was caught offside, Foley gratefully accepted three more points to make it a one-point game at the break.
With his team tiring, Saint-André made some changes at half-time, with Uini Atonio and Mathieu Bastareaud both entering the fray, and the centre showed all his power in the opening seconds breaking three tackles to force Australia back on to their own line. When the Wallabies were caught offside a couple of phases later, Lopez stretched the lead back to four.
The momentum was back with the home side and Michael Hooper caught Guilhem Guirado high a couple of minutes later, but wasn't made to pay as Lopez's penalty didn't quite have the legs.
France didn't have to wait long to stretch the lead again though, with Sean McMahon penalised for lifting Bernard Le Roux after the whistle had gone, and this time Lopez made no mistake.
The seven-point lead was back to four almost immediately, a French kick-chase setting off a fraction early giving Foley an easy penalty.
The French scrum was still struggling, but the introduction of Xavier Chiocci for Menini had an instant impact, shunting the Australians back and earning penalty just before the hour.
The resulting lineout was lost but Rory Kockott, on for Tillous-Borde, charged down Foley and the Wallabies barely survived with Rob Horne's clearing kick giving France a lineout five metres out.
Unfortunately for Les Bleus they were then penalised for offside when trying to set up a maul, blowing a golden opportunity to open up a gap between the sides.
The tide had certainly turned in the scrum though, with Sekope Kepu, on his 50th appearance, given a torrid time by Chiocci and conceding another penalty which Lopez converted.
It was getting scrappy, but France were in control, and when Will Skelton was penalised in a lineout, Kockott stretched the lead to ten with eight minutes remaining.
The game looked up but Australia worked an overlap to send Ashley-Cooper away and after going straight through Spedding he was dragged down just short of the line. Rémi Talès thought he'd secured a decisive turnover but he was deemed to have done so illegally and was sin-binned as a result.
Australia were right back in it, but a huge tackle and rip from Thierry Dusautoir on Skelton forced the Wallabies to start again.
It was only temporary respite however. Israel Folau, having barely featured all game, made a searing break and while he couldn't finish, a couple of phases later, Quade Cooper slipped the ball out of a tackle for Simmons to go over. This time there was no knock-on and Foley's conversion cut the lead back to three with three minutes remaining.The visitors were flying and Foley went straight through once more as Australia looked certain to score. Yet again Dusautoir was in the right place and the right time, making a perfect tackle on Ben Alexander to force a knock-on five metres out.
That left France with a final scrum to negotiate and they did precisely that, earning some measure of revenge for June's 3-0 whitewash. It wasn't easy, and they are far from the finished article, but it was an important step for their under-fire coach.
For Australia, there was disappointment, with the likes of Tevita Kuridrani and Folau, in particular, struggling to have a real impact in the game. Foley was outstanding once more, but overall the Wallabies turned over too much ball in contact to emerge victorious.
Man of the match: There were a number of candidates: Teddy Thomas for his solo score alone, Thierry Dusautoir for his captain's performance at the death and Bernard Foley for keeping Australia in it. In the end though, we're going to go for Camille Lopez. He ran the show for France, showing great decision-making and helping them turn things around after a sticky end to the first half. We'll even forgive him his two fluffed restarts.
Moment of the match: How can we not go with Teddy Thomas' try? Saint-André said in the build-up that Thomas has weaknesses in defence but makes up for them with his attacking threat. This game was proof of that, but as a finisher he is something else.
Villain of the match: It was fiery and the tackles came flying in, but overall it didn't quite boil over.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Tillous-Borde, Thomas
Cons: Lopez 2
Pens: Lopez 4, Kockott
Yellow Card: Talès
For Australia:
Tries: Ashley-Cooper, Simmons
Cons: Foley 2
Pens: Foley 4
France: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Alexandre Dumoulin, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Teddy Thomas, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Uini Atonio, 18 Xavier Chiocci, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Rémi Talès, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Leali'ifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Sean McMahon, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 James Horwill, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Matt Hodgson, 21 Will Genia, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Rob Horne
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
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