France hand Australia fifth straight loss in fine fashion ahead of World Cup

France continued with their superb form ahead of the upcoming Rugby World Cup when they cruised to an emphatic 41-17 victory over Australia in Paris on Sunday.

In a fast-paced and exciting encounter in which both sides gave the ball plenty of air, Les Bleus were full value for their win as they held the upper-hand for long periods and eventually outscored their opponents by four tries to three.

Damian Penaud led the way with a brace of tries while Gabin Villiere and Jonathan Danty also crossed the whitewash.  The home side’s other points came via three conversions and four penalties from Thomas Ramos, while Melvyn Jaminet also succeeded with a conversion and a three-pointer off the kicking tee.

For the Wallabies, who have now lost all five of their Tests this year, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Fraser McReight and Suliasi Vunivalu dotted down and Carter Gordon added a conversion.

The visitors had a chance to open the scoring as early as the third minute, when Antoine Dupont was blown up for offside play on defence, but Gordon’s shot at goal from the resulting penalty was wide of the mark.

That early miss proved costly as it did not take long for the hosts to respond when Danty crossed for the opening try in the eighth minute.  This, after he ran onto a flat pass from Dupont inside Australia’s 22 before powering through a tackle from Gordon on his way over the try-line.

😤 Jonathan Danty opens the scoring! #FRAvAUSpic.twitter.com/Uyr56nfGdQ

― Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) August 27, 2023

Despite that score, the Wallabies did not panic and shortly afterwards they struck back when Andrew Kellaway joined the line at pace before finding Nawaqanitawase with a long pass out wide, and the wing dotted down in the left-hand corner.

Gordon was off target with the conversion attempt, but both sides stayed true to their attacking roots, and in the 16th minute Villiere came close to increasing their lead when he found himself in space out wide before he was bundled into touch by a desperate cover tackle from Nawaqanitawase close to the corner flag.

The rest of the half saw France gradually gaining the upper-hand as Australia conceded a plethora of penalties, and when it was within goal-kicking range, Ramos made them pay.

The full-back succeeded with two penalties in quick succession, which gave his side a 13-5 lead by the half hour-mark but Australia had a chance to reduce the deficit in the 33rd minute ― when Les Bleus were penalised for illegal scrumaging ― but Gordon was off target again.

That proved a costly miss as two minutes later, Tate McDermott was penalised for obstruction, and Ramos made the Wallabies pay again as he made no mistake from the kicking tee, which meant France were holding a deserved 16-5 lead as the teams changed sides at half-time.

The second half started in a similar fashion, with Ramos lining up a shot at goal in the 43rd minute ― after Lalakai Foketi was penalised for a high tackle on Gael Fickou ― but surprisingly, his effort struck an upright.

Australia spent most of the next 10 minutes camped inside France’s half, but they were met with a solid defensive effort from their hosts, and no points were scored during that period.

Their inability to score points came back to haunt the Wallabies in the 53rd minute when Vunivalu was yellow-carded for a cynical defensive foul deep inside his half.

It did not take long for Les Bleus to make their numerical advantage count as in the 57th minute, Penaud gathered a perfectly weighted cross-field kick from Dupont before cantering in for his first five-pointer.

🇫🇷 FRANCE THRILL AS WALLABIES LOSE FIVE STRAIGHT! #FRAvAUS pic.twitter.com/YrKrmxclXE

― Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) August 27, 2023

To their credit, the Wallabies did not surrender, and on the hour-mark, McReight crossed the whitewash when he ran onto a pass from McDermott after France failed to deal with a teasing box kick from the Wallabies scrum-half inside their 22.

It did not take long for Les Bleus to respond, though as soon after, Matthieu Jalibert found Villiere with a cross-field kick, and he did well to score his try despite the attentions of two defenders.

France’s dominance continued, and in the 76th minute, they were rewarded again when Penaud chipped ahead before regathering to score his second try.  Shortly afterwards, Vunivalu was rewarded when he scored his try, after gathering a high ball, but France finished stronger and sealed their win in the game’s dying moments when Jaminet slotted his penalty from just inside his half.

Damian Penaud stunner rescues France

France were indebted to the class of Damian Penaud as the wing touched down late on to give them a narrow 30-29 victory over a gallant Australia side.

Les Bleus struggled throughout as the visitors gave as good as they got.  Thomas Ramos and Bernard Foley initially traded two penalties apiece before the Aussies put together the try of the weekend for Lalakai Foketi.

Ramos then reduced the arrears with two more successful efforts off the tee, but it looked like Dave Rennie’s men would go into the break with a one-point advantage.  However, Julien Marchand touched down with the clock in the red and it could have been a sucker punch for the Wallabies.

They continued to battle, though, and went into the latter stages with a four-point buffer as Jock Campbell crossed the whitewash while Foley (twice) and Reece Hodge kicked penalties.

The Aussies were on the cusp of a famous win but Penaud’s brilliant score rescued the day for France.

Australia went into the game off the back of narrow victory over Scotland, but they needed a vast improvement against the defending Six Nations champions.

Few saw how they could compete against the French behemoths, but Rennie’s charges were quite simply outstanding.

They began the game by putting star scrum-half Antoine Dupont under pressure and it resulted in the hosts infringing, leading to a Foley three-pointer.

Ramos almost immediately responded before the full-back added a second off the tee soon after.

France thought they had scored when Charles Ollivon burrowed his way over, but that was disallowed for a double movement and the Australians benefited from that reprieve.

Receiving the ball deep inside their own 22, Australia spotted space on the left where Tom Wright was lurking.  The wing displayed outstanding pace to sprint clear of Penaud and showed equally good skills to pass the ball to Campbell.

Foketi was on the full-back’s shoulder and the Reds man duly found the centre to give the Wallabies a 13-6 advantage.

Deserved lead

It was a lead they absolutely deserved but Les Bleus would edge their way back into the contest thanks to the accurate kicking of Ramos.

They went into the latter stages of the first half 13-12 in arrears before Marchand touched down to take them 19-13 ahead going into the second period.

France had the momentum but Australia never went away and, after Ramos and Foley had traded penalties, Rennie’s men scored another well-worked try through Campbell.

The Wallabies’ fly-half brilliantly converted and then kicked a penalty to leave them 26-22 in front.

That four-point buffer remained going into the latter stages as Ramos and Hodge kicked a penalty apiece before Penaud’s piece of magic broke the Australians’ hearts.

14-man Australia edge France to win thrilling series

Australia had Marika Koroibete sent off early on but still managed to claim a 33-30 victory over France in Brisbane and win a stunning series 2-1.

Koroibete was red carded for connecting with the head of Anthony Jelonch and it initially had a significant impact on the hosts as Les Bleus moved 10-0 in front thanks to Baptiste Couilloud’s try.

However, the Wallabies responded as half-backs Tate McDermott and Noah Lolesio touched down before Cameron Woki went over for the away team.

The second period was similarly thrilling with Pierre-Louis Barassi and Taniela Tupou trading tries before Lolesio and Melvyn Jaminet added a three-pointer each to keep the match finely poised going into the final 10 minutes.

Australia finished stronger, though, and Lolesio’s 78th minute penalty proved to be enough to spark jubilation among the Wallabies players and fans.

Fabien Galthie’s men have started all three matches impressively and they began this encounter on the front foot.  They carried well, with hooker Gaetan Barlot to the fore, and their pressure earned a penalty which Jaminet converted for a 3-0 lead.

The visitors were then boosted further when Koroibete was sent off after connecting with the head of French captain Jelonch.

There did appear to be a dip from Jelonch, which could have mitigated it down to a yellow, but the New Zealand officials deemed that it was worthy of a red card.

The home crowd were angry, particularly at the apparent theatrics of the back-rower, and they were further incensed when the visitors extended their advantage via Couilloud’s close range effort.

To the Wallabies’ credit, they composed themselves and hit back superbly as the inspirational Michael Hooper took an outstanding line.  The flanker stepped Antoine Hastoy and then produced an excellent off-load for McDermott to go over unopposed.

Although Jaminet kicked another penalty to take Les Bleus six points ahead, a French mistake inside their own half led to Lolesio intercepting and moving Dave Rennie’s charges ahead.

The fly-half converted and then added another three-pointer for a 17-13 advantage before rangy France back-row Woki reached out to regain his side’s lead.

In a thrilling half of rugby, there would be one more score as Lolesio levelled matters with another successful effort off the tee.

That excitement would continue into the second period as France scored one of the great tries.  It was started by Couilloud, who found Teddy Thomas in space.  The wing then chipped forward and combined with his scrum-half to provide Hastoy with the opportunity to send Barassi across the whitewash.

It could have been the try to finally break the Australian resistance but, once again, they hit back and were rewarded through Tupou’s effort.

The sides could not be separated going into the final quarter but the Wallabies increased the pressure and thought they had scored through Brandon Paenga-Amosa.  However, it was ruled out due to a knock on from Hunter Paisami in the build up.

Rennie’s men would get another opportunity, though, when an ill-disciplined France conceded a penalty, which was converted by Lolesio.

Les Bleus immediately responded through Jaminet but a mistake under the high ball gave Australia a scrum and Lolesio stepped up to win the game for Australia after forcing their opponents to infringe at the set-piece.

France edge out Wallabies to level series

France drew level in their three-Test series with Australia when they beat the Wallabies 28-26 at AAMI Park in Melbourne on Wednesday.

For the second successive week, the result was in the balance until the end but France were deserved winners and their victory is a momentous one as it is the first time since 1990 that they have beaten the Wallabies on Australian soil.

Melvyn Jaminet was Les Bleus’ hero as he finished with a 23-point haul courtesy of seven penalties and a conversion, with their other points coming via a five-pointer from Damian Penaud.

For Australia, Jake Gordon and Michael Hooper scored tries while Noah Lolesio added two conversions and four penalties.

France gained an early lead courtesy of a Jaminet penalty from the halfway line in the second minute but the Wallabies struck back when Marika Koroibete crossed the whitewash shortly afterwards after a mazy run in the build-up.

His effort was disallowed, however, after television replays revealed a handling error from Tom Wright in the build-up.

Another three-pointer off the kicking tee from Jaminet gave the visitors a 6-0 lead but Lolesio reduced the deficit to three points when he opened Australia’s account with a penalty of his own in the 18th minute.

Soon after, Les Bleus launched an attack from just inside their half with Penaud finding himself in space down the right-hand touchline but he did well to throw an inside pass to Cameron Woki.  The flanker returned the favour and Penaud cantered in for the opening try which Jaminet converted.

The next 15 minutes was an arm wrestle as the sides battled to gain the ascendancy and Lolesio and Jaminet traded further penalties which meant France held a 16-6 lead by the 35th minute.

Just before half-time, the Wallabies were hammering away at Les Bleus’ try-line and after Matt Philip was stopped just short of the whitewash, Taniela Tupou got a delightful skip pass out to Gordon, who went over in the left-hand corner.  Lolesio did well to land the conversion from close to the touchline which meant France held a slender 16-13 lead at the interval.

The Wallabies made the brighter start to the second half and in the 46th minute Lolesio drew his side level when he slotted his second penalty.  However, it was all France for the next 15 minutes as the Wallabies lost some of their defensive shape, especially at the breakdowns where they were penalised on several occasions.

France level the series 1-1 🇫🇷 It all comes down to the decider this Saturday.

Stan Sport, the Home of International Rugby.  Ad-free, Live & On Demand.#AUSvFRA pic.twitter.com/bowcXCkCyM

— StanSportAU (@StanSportAU) July 13, 2021

And when it was within goal-kicking range Jaminet made them pay.  The young full-back showed his class as he slotted three consecutive penalties which gave France a 25-16 lead by the 63rd minute.

The Wallabies needed a response and that came in the 71st minute when Tom Banks tore France’s defence to shreds with a superb line break.  He got a pass out to Andrew Kellaway, who was brought to ground deep inside Les Bleus’ 22 but he did well to offload to Hooper, who scored in the corner.

Once again, Lolesio succeeded with a difficult conversion and the match was evenly poised with France holding a slender two-point lead.

The game’s closing stages were tense and the Wallabies thought they had clinched the result when Lolesio added his fourth penalty in the 75th minute, after Demba Bamba strayed offside on defence.

There was still another twist in the tale, however, and Bamba made up for his earlier indiscretion when he put great pressure on the Wallabies scrum in the 78th minute.

Referee James Doleman penalised the home side at the set-piece and up stepped Jaminet, who held his nerve to slot the resulting place-kick which also secured the win for his team.

Wallabies late show stuns France in Brisbane

Noah Lolesio slotted a penalty after the siren had sounded as Australia snatched a dramatic 23-21 victory over France in a thrilling Test in Brisbane on Wednesday.

In a hard-fought and evenly contested battle, France held the lead for the entire game but Australia kept their nerve and pounced on an error from the visitors ― who did not put the ball into touch from a lineout after the final hooter ― and after winning a penalty, Lolesio clinched the triumph with the match-winning kick.

The 21-year-old finished with a 13-point haul as he also succeeded with two other penalties and as many conversions, with Brandon Paenga-Amosa and captain Michael Hooper scoring Australia’s tries.

Gabin Villiere led the way with a brace of scores for Les Bleus while Louis Carbonel added a conversion and two penalties and Melvyn Jaminet also slotted a three-pointer off the kicking tee.

France made an excellent start and their forwards did well to win a turnover deep inside Wallabies territory before the ball was shifted wide to Villiere, who had an easy run-in for the opening try after six minutes.

Australia thought they had drawn level when Hunter Paisami gathered an offload from Jake Gordon before busting through a couple of tackles to dot down, but his effort was disallowed after television replays revealed that Gordon’s pass went forward.

Les Bleus soon regained the initiative and were up 15-0 midway through the half courtesy of a Carbonel penalty and a well-taken converted try from Villiere.

This, after Sekou Macalou and Baptiste Couilloud combined off the back of a scrum, midway between Australia’s 22 and the halfway line, before Jonathan Danty took the ball into contact.  Danty did well to throw an inside pass to Villiere, who glided through a gaping hole in the Wallabies’ defence on his way over the try-line.

That meant the visitors had their tails up as they were leading 15-0 after 24 minutes but 10 minutes later the Wallabies opened their account when Paenga-Amosa went over the whitewash off the back of a lineout drive deep inside France’s half.

That was an important score as it boosted the home side’s confidence and Lolesio narrowed the gap to five points at half-time when he slotted the resulting conversion.

The Wallabies continued to hold the upper hand after the restart and Lolesio added a penalty four minutes into the new half, but Carbonel replied with a three-pointer of his own in the 52nd minute which meant the visitors were leading 18-10.

Despite that score, Australia were soon camped in France’s half and in the 55th minute Paisami caught France’s defence by surprise with a teasing grubber kick behind their try-line but a wicked bounce saw Tom Wright knocking the ball on when he tried to gather to score his side’s second five-pointer.

On the hour-mark Lolesio added his second penalty, after Les Bleus’ forwards infringed at scrum-time, but that effort was cancelled out in the 63rd minute when Jaminet landed a long-range penalty which meant France were leading 21-13.

That score led to the hosts upping the ante on attack and they were rewarded in the 70th minute when Hooper burrowed his way over the try-line from close quarters after Harry Wilson and Marika Koroibete were stopped short in the build-up.

That set up a tense finish as the home side went in search of the victory and they were given a lifeline due to France’s moment of madness at that lineout during the game’s closing stages.

The Wallabies were soon hammering away at Les Bleus’ try-line and when France strayed offside on defence, it left Lolesio with an easy penalty attempt from close range and he held his nerve to slot the kick which handed his side a memorable come-from-behind triumph.

Australia hold off France

Australia went a step closer to securing an unbeaten end-of-year tour as they got the better of France 25-23 at the Stade de France.

A penalty try and crossings from Bernard Foley and Tevita Kuridrani saw them end with the win, with Foley kicking 10 points on Saturday.

In reply, France's try-scorers were Virimi Vakatawa, Jean-Marc Doussain and Wesley Fofana, but they came up short in front of their fans.

Australia will now look to recover before facing an in-form Ireland and then England in back-to-back weeks for a difficult end to the year.

France will think they could have won this game and a wayward late drop-goal attempt made it even more painful for the locals watching.

It took them just six minutes to open their account when Maxime Machenaud kicked a penalty, and when in-form wing Vakatawa crossed 11 minutes later les Bleus were 0-8 to the good.  That was Vakatawa's fourth try in two internationals after his hat-trick against Samoa.

The lead didn't last long, however, as a Foley penalty and then a penalty try following a pulled down driving maul saw Australia move 10-8 in front in the blink of an eye.  Referee Glen Jackson also handed out a yellow card to flanker Charles Ollivon for the blatant offence.

Foley was on target again on 37 minutes to extend their lead to five points which, after a slow start, would have pleased Michael Cheika.  France though had other ideas and a scrum penalty, converted by Machenaud in the 40th minute, meant the score was 11-13 at the break.

The contest therefore was set up to go all the way in Paris when the two nations emerged for the second-half, with the Wallabies starting the brighter.  They snubbed a kickable penalty and were duly rewarded when Foley hit a short line from seven metres out to make it 20-11.

Australia almost moved further in front on 50 minutes when Luke Morahan's offload following a line bust almost found Sefanaia Naivalu but for great scrambling defence.  France were now skating on thin ice and one felt that another Wallaby try would mean curtains for them.

France did respond with a try out of nothing through Doussain but when Kuridrani finished brilliantly on the right wing Australia led 25-16.

The game was not over there as France sensed blood when on 66 minutes Fofana would dive over for a converted try that set up a grandstand finish before Lopez sat back in the pocket to agonisingly watch his kick go wide.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Vakatawa, Doussain, Fofana
Con:  Machenaud
Pens:  Machenaud 2
Yellow Card:  Ollivon (25 min)

For Australia:
Tries:  Penalty Try, Foley, Kuridrani
Cons:  Foley 2
Pens:  Foley 2

France:  15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Rémi Lamerat, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Kévin Gourdon, 6 Charles Ollivon, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sébastian Vahaamahina, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Guilhelm Guirado (c), 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements:  16 Camille Chat, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Julien Le Devedec, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Camille Lopez, 23 Gaël Fickou

Australia:  15 Luke Morahan, 14 Sefanaia Naivalu, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 Sean McMahon, 7 David Pocock (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Tolu Latu, 1 James Slipper
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Dean Mumm, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Jonno Lance, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro

Referee:  Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Greg Garner (England)
TMO:  Graham Hughes (England)

Les Bleus hold on against Wallabies

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)

Wallabies thrash woeful France

Australia completed a 3-0 series whitewash over France with a 39-13 drubbing at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday.

After being shut out in a tight game in Melbourne last week, the impressive hosts outscored les Bleus five tries to one in a performance that bodes well for their chances in the Rugby Championship.

The Wallabies were 20-6 up at the interval and were good value for their lead.  Not once did France even come close to replying to the first-half tries from debutant Will Skelton and Israel Folau as their stale attack shot blanks at the well-organised Aussie defence.

By contrast, Australia were playing with real spark and vigour, dominating territory and possession and moving the ball across the park at pace.

Folau bagged his double early in the second half before skipper Michael Hooper's try on the hour mark left no doubt over the final result.

The tourists scored a consolation try via a driving maul but their dismal afternoon was capped by a late Nick Phipps touchdown as the Wallabies punished the lacklustre French defence.

To further emphasise the contrast with last-week's dour affair in front a record low crowd, the Sydney faithful set a new attendance benchmark of over 43 000 and their team didn't disappoint with a clinical display.

France were never in it.

Australia were first to score — after just two minutes — when Bernard Foley slotted a long-range penalty.

Maxime Machenaud — a late replacement for the injured Morgan Parra — should have levelled matters immediately after but his shot at goal hit the woodwork.

The Wallabies couldn't get over the whitewash last week but Skelton touched down for the first try after just eight minutes.  The hosts took it through 20 phases before the massive lock went straight through Fulgence Ouedraogo to power home from 5m out.

Foley added the extras to give Australia a 10-point lead after as many minutes — the perfect start.

Despite an 84kg disadvantage, the French scrum earned a penalty which full-back Brice Dulin sent over from halfway, in a rare highlight for the visitors' set piece.

But the good work was immediately undone as France coughed up a ruck penalty at the restart when Hooper wrapped up Dulin to allowed Foley to restore the 10-point gap as the first quarter came to an end.

With French prop Rabah Slimani in the sin bin (for an tackle without the ball), the Wallabies cashed in on their numerical advantage as Folau produced an excellent diving finish in the corner.

Foley's touchline conversion split the uprights and at 20-3, the writing was on the wall for les Bleus.

Machenaud landed a penalty for a collapsed maul shortly before the break to cut the deficit to 14 points when the half-time hooter sounded.

But a comeback wasn't to happen.  First-half try scorers Skelton and Folau combined to put another nail in the French coffin as the big lock's pop pass found a flying Folau, who raced home untouched.

Kurtley Beale impressed off the bench.  He sliced the French defence apart and combined with Foley to put Hooper away for the fourth Aussie try.

France hooker Guilhem Guirado crashed over at the back of a rolling maul with 15 minutes to play but Phipps could add the icing to the Wallaby cake, catching France unawares by taking a quick tap to sneak over.

The scorers:

For Australia: 
Tries:  Skelton, Folau 2, Hooper, Phipps
Cons:  Foley 4
Pens:  Foley 2

For France: 
Try:  Guirado
Con:  Machenaud
Pens:  Dulin, Machenaud
Yellow cards:  Slimani

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nic White, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Nathan Charles, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Laurie Weeks, 19 James Horwill, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Rob Horne.

France:  15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Hugo Bonneval, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini.
Replacements:  16 Christophe Tolofua, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Thomas Domingo, 19 Bernard Le Roux, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 Yannick Nyanga, 22 Frederic Michalak , 23 Remi Lamerat.

Venue:  Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Referee:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), George Clancy (Ireland)
Television match official:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Wallabies edge France in dire Test

Australia edged out France 6-0 in one of the worst Test matches in recent memory to clinch the Test series in Melbourne.

Bizarrely considering there were 73 points last Saturday, we didn't get any at all here until the 53rd minute.  Hardly a great advert for the rugby public in this part of Australia.

Both teams were overly cautious, kicked endlessly, dropped passes and conceded needless penalties when finally in a position to attack.  Boy it was dull to watch.

There were no excuses related to the weather or off-field politics, both teams were simply dire.  France might have shown more bite, but there was little class or control.  The Wallabies were worthy of their win.

Where was the Wallabies' sense of adventure from Brisbane?  It's a well-known fact that French flair under Philippe Saint-André is dead, but a sign of an effective gameplan might have been encouraging a week after being thrashed.

Brice Dulin and Nic White missed penalty opportunities but the Wallabies had come closest earlier in the first half when a decision went to the TMO.

Matt Toomua's chip over the top fooled everybody and in the scramble for the ball with Dulin he was adjudged to have obstructed the France full-back in the second before Ben McCalman grounded the loose ball.

France were made of much sterner stuff than the turnstile who rocked up at Suncorp.  A lot of that comes down to their selection, as the big guys returning to the starting XV made a big impact.

Thierry Dusautoir was arguably the most important returnee, coming into the side and characteristically hacking his way through a ton of work at the breakdown to give France a good share of possession.

Rémi Talès showed far greater control outside Morgan Parra and it kept France on the up in terms of territory, their pack bolstered by the addition of Yannick Nyanga along with a pair of hungry young props in Alexandre Menini and Rabah Slimani.  France's defence was solid, their set-piece clicking nicely.  There was little else to them.

There was no way this one would finish scoreless and the inevitable breakthrough came from a penalty by Foley to put the Wallabies into the lead.  The way it had gone, you suspected it might be the only score.

James Horwill's 50th cap came to a conclusion when he was replaced by a debutant in Luke Jones — a former ball boy for Australia over ten years ago.

White added a second penalty to at least give the Wallabies some comfort on the scoreboard with time winding down in the final quarter.

There were few chances, Adam Ashley-Cooper knocking on just short of the line in pursuit of a hacked through ball behind the French defence.

Bernard Le Roux's yellow card however seemed to condemn France to another defeat but White couldn't land the penalty with ten minutes to go.

Two front-rowers on debut for Australia made their bow as Nathan Charles and Laurie Weeks entered the fray, France still believing that the result was in reach.

A late break started by Dulin nearly rewarded that hope with what would have been a completely unfitting moment of brilliance from the visitors given the nature of the contest.  A lineout outside the 22 gave them a final chance.

Naturally it went up in smoke with a miscued pass from Yoann Huget after he burst through the defence.  The Wallabies found a way to win, gritty but nowhere near glorious.

One to forget.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Pens:  Foley, White

For France:
Yellow Card:  Le Roux

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Nathan Charles, 17 Pek Cowan,) 18 Laurie Weeks, 19 Luke Jones, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Pat McCabe.

France:  15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Rémi Talès, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini.
Replacements:  16 Brice Mach, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Bernard le Roux, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 Antoine Burban, 22 Frédéric Michalak, 23 Remi Lamerat.

Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Seven-try Wallabies crush France

Australia went 1-0 up in their June Test series against France as they romped to a 50-23 victory at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

France have not beaten the Wallabies in Australia since 1990 and, based on this performance, they are unlikely to change that record in this three-Test series.

Despite losing skipper Stephen Moore in the early stages, the home side touched down seven times before the French snatched two consolation tries in a benchmark rout that further tarnishes Philippe Saint-André's dismal track record.

The impressive Wallabies led 29-9 at the interval as four unanswered tries from Israel Folau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Michael Hooper and Matt Toomua saw the hosts race ahead.

The French defence was woeful.  Australia were hardly playing sensational rugby but sloppy tackling and a few horrific errors from the visitors gifted the Wallabies a massive head start for the second half.

Unable — more like unwilling — to compete at the breakdown, les Bleus allowed the Aussie pack to give their backs quality ball far too cheaply.  Worse still, PSA's troops offered very little on attack.

After the break, the French got stuck into the rucks with far more venom and could stem the tide until just before the hour mark, when Nick Cummins added his name to the list of scorers, but the tourists never seriously threatened to cross the whitewash until Morgan Parra's late consolation score and penalty try in the final minute.

By that time the Wallabies had already reached the 50-point mark as Kurtley Beale and Pat McCabe came off the bench to rub salt into the French wounds with tries in the last quarter.

A neat drop-goal from Frédéric Michalak in reply to Bernard Foley's opening penalty levelled the scores early on, but is would be almost one-way thereafter.

Folua landed the first blow at the end of the first quarter, beating three defenders to cross.

Shortly afterwards Gaël Fickou came out of the French line looking for an intercept, allowing Ashley-Cooper to go in untouched off Toomua's offload.

Hooper added number three with a little help from the TMO who persuaded referee Craig Joubert that Tevita Kuridrani tap-on hadn't gone forward.

The fourth try, just before the break, was almost comical as debutant Felix le Bourhis fumbled on his line, then fumbled again in-goal as he tried to gather the loose ball, only to see Toomua pounce.

Foley added his third conversion to give Australia a 20-point lead, and the result was essentially sealed before the half-time hooter.

Australia could bide their time as France tried to get back into the game after the restart.  But Folau went clear out wide before finding Cummins on the switch for an excellent try to kill off any hopes of a comeback.

Beale cruised over for number six thanks to a break from Kuridrani before Folau beat Wesley Fofana and set McCabe free out wide for number seven.

Parra scored off the restart to salvage some pride for the XV de France, who finished on a positive point as their scrum earned a penalty try with the last play of the game.

But France will have to make a massive step up next week if they hope to keep the series alive.

The scorers:

For Australia: 
Tries:  Folau, Ashley-Cooper, Hooper, Toomua, Cummins, Beale, McCabe
Cons:  Foley 6
Pen:  Foley

For France: 
Tries:  Parra, Penalty try
Cons:  Michalak 2
Pens:  Michalak
Drops:  Michalak

Australia:  15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nic White, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 James Horwill, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Pat McCabe.

France:  15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Felix le Bourhis, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Bernard le Roux, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 3 Nicolas Mas (c), 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Christopher Tolofua, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Alexandre Flanquart, 20 Antoine Burban, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Remi Lamerat, 23 Brice Dulin.

Venue:  Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
TMO:  Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

France hammer Wallabies

France exacted revenge for the humiliation at the hands of the Wallabies two years ago with a dominant 33-6 victory at the Stade de France on Saturday.

The result brings an end to Australia's five-game winning streak against les Bleus and puts France in pole position in the chase for the all-important fourth place in the world rankings ahead of the World Cup pool draw next month.

France led 13-6 at the end of a scrappy first half highlighted by the home side's hard work on defence and their dominance at scrum time.

Indeed, Sekope Kepu was being worked over by Test debutant Yannick Forestier and it was off the back of an attacking scrum that French number eight Louis Picamoles could break to score the only try of the opening 40 minutes.

Fred Michalak set up Wesley Fofana for France's second try midway through the second half before the French scrum earned a penalty try — despite having changed their entire front row — as the Wallabies were held scoreless in the second half.

Michalak and Mike Harris traded early penalties as both sides look to move the ball around but failed to execute with any precision.

There were ominous signs for Australia as referee Nigel Owens awarded a series of penalties against the retreating Wallaby scrum five metres from their own line.  Picamoles made sure the pressure told as he jogged over untouched.

Michalak landed the conversion to cap a solid start for les Bleus but Harris could cut the deficit at 10-6 after the French were caught offside to close the opening quarter.

With half time looming large, Michalak punished Kepu for not rolling away with a penalty and then landed a sucker-punch drop to give the hosts a 10-point lead at the interval.

Michalak was at the origin of France's second try as he stepped past Kurtley Beale to burst clear up the centre of the field before finding Wesley Fofana up in support for an easy finish.

Philippe Saint-André sent on the Clermont front row around the hour mark and it only served to augment to French ascendency at scrum time and the penalty try on 64 minutes came as no surprise.

Rob Simmons was extremely lucky not to get his marching orders for a tip tackle on Yannick Nyanga because none of the three officials could see the number on his back.

Australia came literally within inches of getting a try back but Morgan Parra did sterling work to get under the ball and hold it up.

Parra landed a final penalty to rub salt into the Wallabies' wounds, sending them to Twickenham with plenty to think about.

Man of the match:  Michalak deserves a mention for his 15-point haul and try-creating break but we'll go with Louis Picamoles who was simply phenomenal with ball in hand.  He went forward in every contact situation.

Moment of the match:  The result had probably already been sealed for France by Fofana's try but the penalty try told a story itself and summed up a woeful night for the Wallaby front row.

Villain of the match:  Rob Simmons for his (unpunished) spear tackle and the match officials for failing to take note of his number.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Picamoles, Fofana, Penalty try
Cons:  Michalak 3
Pens:  Michalak 2, Parra
Drop:  Michalak

For Australia:
Pens:  Harris 2

France:  15 Brice Dulin, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Florian Fritz , 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Jocelino Suta, 4 Pascal Papé (c), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Yannick Forestier.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Vincent Debaty, 19 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Yoann Huget.

Australia:  15 Mike Harris, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Ben Tapuai, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 James Slipper, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Radike Samo, 21 Liam Gill, 22 Brett Sheehan, 23 Berrick Barnes.

Venue:  Stade de France, Paris
Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  John Lacey (Ireland), Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Television match official:  Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

Wallabies humble France

After being level at half time, Wallabies eventually cantered past France with a seven-try 59-16 victory in Paris on Saturday.

Les Bleus were booed off the field by their home crowd as a second-half meltdown saw them concede a whopping 46 points after the break.

Despite being annihilated at scrum time, Australia notched up a record victory over France, proving that attack truly is the best form of defence as Drew Mitchell scored a hat-trick in the space of a few minutes.

This must surely be a wake-up call for Marc Lièvremont whose side looked completely disjointed and lacked any sort of direction.

The hosts were completely outplayed in very department expect for the scrum, and even the Wallabies' disastrous set piece become largely irrelevant in the second half.

The constant chopping and changing of the French team has left them without any sort of cohesion.  In front of 80 000 of their fans on Saturday, the XV de France was exposed by arguably the world's most electrifying attacking team.

Just as worrying for French fans must be the way their team simply capitulated once the Wallabies had a decent lead.  This is not the first time it's happened -- similar beatings were dished out by the All Blacks in Marseille last November and by the Springboks in Cape Town in June.  The manner in which French heads dropped and tackles were missed in Paris was all too familiar.

As for Australia, despite the impressive scoreline this victory must be taken with a pinch of salt.  Yes, they were fantastic on attack.  Yes, they managed to win handsomely against one of the world's rugby powers, but there is simply no way they can expect to win the World Cup with that scrum.

France were able to hang on for 40 minutes almost entirely thanks to their scrum dominance which was not only worth a penalty try but also a bagful of penalties.

Australia took an early lead thanks to wonderfully executed move that saw Adam Ashley-Cooper bust through the midfield to score.

James O'Connor and Morgan Parra exchanged penalties until referee Bryce Lawrence was left with no choice but to hand France a penalty try -- and send Ben Alexander to the sin bin -- as the Aussie scrum repeatedly collapsed meaning the teams headed to the changing rooms at 13-all.

Parra gave France a 16-13 lead shortly after the break but it was one-way traffic for the rest of the game.

Tries from Benn Robinson and Will Genia in the 48th and 51st minutes put Australia in control, before Mitchell claimed a quickfire hat-trick and James O'Connor added a try of his own to complete a personal haul of 29 points.

Man of the match:  A lot was made of the size and class of the French midfield but they were completely outshone by Adam Ashley-Cooper whose running lines were simply outstanding.

Moment of the match:  There was an air of inevitability about Benn Robinson's try with half an hour left on the clock.  As it turned out, it was the straw that broke the camel's back as France imploded.

The scorers:

For France:
Try:  Penalty try
Cons:  Parra
Pens:  Parra 3

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, Robinson, Genia, Mitchell 3, O'Connor
Cons:  O'Connor 6
Pens:  O'Connor 4

Yellow card:  Alexander (Australia -- 30th min- repeated scum infringements)

France:  15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Jerome Thion, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jerome Schuster, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Fabrice Estebanez, 22 Marc Andreu.

Australia:  15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Scott Higginbotham, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Lachie Turner.

Venue:  Stade de France.
Referee:  Brice Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official:  Hugh Watkins (Wales)

Giteau kicks life out of France

Australia defeated a wearisome French outfit 22-6 on Saturday, but managed little else in a painfully dull encounter at ANZ Stadium.

Sydney's far from enthralling spectacle handed the Wallabies their fourteenth win from fifteen on home soil over recent seasons, which has to rank them as major contenders for the Tri-Nations.

That assessment is not due to their most recent showing oh no, it comes from the maturity of their squad as on-field combinations continue to grow.

One such pairing has been the Matt Giteau and Berrick Barnes balance at numbers ten and twelve, which set up the game's only five pointer.

But that seventeenth minute effort was the only highlight in an international that failed to match all of its midweek hype, with breakdown offences ultimately hurting Les Bleus as the hosts pulled clear.

Giteau's impressive team score came either side of two Australian penalties that sent the teams in at 10-3 on half time.  It was a much-needed break.

There could have been something to rival the pivot's effort soon after though, as Perpignan centre Maxime Mermoz found himself called back for offside by referee David Pearson, with a 50-metre run to the whitewash going begging.

Giteau added the three points that kept the scoreboard ticking over and so the pattern continued as Englishman Pearson struggled to impact any sort of flow on the 16-3 arrears in Sydney.

And with the looming prospect of a Bledisloe Cup opener against the All Blacks possibly in the back of Australia's minds, the trend continued until the final whistle in what was meant to be the perfect appetiser for South Africa versus the British & Irish Lions.

Man-of-the-match:  It would be easy to hand the award to Matt Giteau after he claimed everything else in Sydney for Australia.  But the hard graft and turnover work of flanker George Smith cannot be played down.  One for the forwards.

Moment of the match:  The simplest of decisions for this gong after Matt Giteau's first-half try proved the game's highlight.  Started by the former Western Force man, his long pass to Stirling Mortlock allowed Lachie Turner to slice inside before Berrick Barnes fed his fly-half.

Villain of the match:  Possibly the prospect of a Tri-Nations opener against New Zealand.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Giteau
Con:  Giteau
Pen:  Giteau 5

For France:
Pen:  Beauxis, Yachvili

Australia:  15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Stirling Mortlock (c), 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 George Smith, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Phil Waugh, 19 David Pocock, 20 Josh Valentine, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 James O'Connor.

France:  15 Damien Traille, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Julien Puricelli, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Romain Millo Chluski, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Remy Martin, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Vincent Clerc, 22 Julien Arias.

Referee:  Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)

Wallabies burgle Stade de France

Australia scraped home with a narrow and somewhat fortunate 18-13 victory over France on Saturday to remain unbeaten on their November tour of Europe.

France provided most of the playing but an absolutely disastrous display from the kicking tee by fly-half David Skrela, who missed five kickable goals, handed the visitors victory.

The Wallabies did produce the occasional flash a decent rugby, but generally fed off the hosts' mistakes.

Do France have a confidence problem?  Where is the flowing French flair that Marc Lièvremont has been promising?  Les Bleus seemed almost panicked from the first minute, and more often than not chose to kick ahead rather than back their themselves to attack the Australian line with ball in hand for most of the opening three quarters.

On a number of occasions an overlap went a-begging as the first receiver punted.  It seemed the only time les Bleus wanted to run it was when they were in deep trouble in their own 22, or when than had no other choice in the dying stages because it had become clear that Skrela wasn't going to do the business from the kicking tee.

As Yannick Jauzion hinted during the week France came out with the distinct intention over tackling their visitors back to Australia.  Sebastien "Caveman" Chabal was at his very bruising best, putting in loads of big hits and looking positively scary when charging forward in possession.

But for all their aggro on defence, Lièvremont's troops were masters of shooting themselves in the foot on attack.  Forgive me for harping on about what the French did, or did not, do but the truth of the matter is the hosts did more to hand the game to Australia than the tourists did to win it for themselves.

Time after time the blue-clad forwards would provide their backs with quality ball, and while a lot can be said for the merits of putting a defending back three under pressure, the way the home side squandered possession was criminal.

As for Australia, well they can take one line out of South Africa's phrase book and say "a win is a win".

After the rugby world sang their pack's praises for getting the better of England, the French scrum pulverised their opposition on a couple of occasions, as will be eluded to later.

The main talking point of this November Test series has been the interpretation of the laws at the breakdown and once again we saw the inconsistencies in world-wide refereeing as Craig Joubert was lenient to the point of indulgence compared to some of his colleagues this month and George Smith did not hesitate to take full advantage of the situation.

France's lack of belief in their own ability to beat a defensive curtain was clear as day inside the first ten minutes when Skrela attempted a drop goal rather than send the ball out wide, despite the fact that the French had laid siege to the Wallaby line and were generally going forward.

Skrela had already missed one penalty attempt and his failure was a sign of things to come.

Matt Giteau opened the scoring close to the half-an-hour mark with a three-pointer and hooker Stephen Moore would soon increase the lead.  From close range, Moore stayed low and bashed through two defenders to stretch and arm out over the whitewash.  Giteau added the extras to make gap ten points.

Skrela would miss two more penalties before his side got onto the scoreboard.

A shocking pass from Wallaby scrum-half Luke Burgess sailed over the dead-ball line to give the home side a five metre scrum.  A massive push from the French forwards earned their team a penalty try on the stroke on half-time as the blue pack went straight through the Wallaby heavies.  George Smith dived in, completely unbound and referee Joubert had no choice but to award five points to the home side.

Skrela couldn't have missed the conversion if he tried and France were still very much in the game as Australia led 10-7 when the teams headed for the sheds.

Lièvremont's side had mentioned before the game that the felt Giteau was the danger man and they heaped the pressure on the fly-half.  Three times he was charged down.

The opening stages of the second half belonged to France as Skrela hit the target for once and full-back Maxime Medard slotted an audacious drop from nearly 50 metres out to put side ahead.

The French defence let itself down soon afterwards though as they failed to number up and Peter Hynes raced down the touchline on the blindside to score Australia's second try.

Just two points behind, Skrela had the fans at the Stade de France whistling their disapproval as he missed two more kicks and then earned himself a yellow card for a clumsy high tackle.  He will go down as the villain of the night, which is a shame since he didn't have a bad game at all in general play.

Giteau had had no problems to kick his team into a five-point lead from in front of the posts a few minutes earlier in what turned out to be the last score of the game.

Man of the match:  It's not convention to name a player on the losing side, but Sébastien Chabal gets our nod.  He left a lot of Aussies with very sore bodies and broke through the gain line with brute force every time he had his hands on the ball.

Moment of the match:  Australia didn't have a lot of meaningful possession, but they made it count when they did.  Peter Hynes' try was pretty soft one, but it epitomised the fact that it just wasn't going to be France's night.

Villain of the match:  Whoever decided to schedule the kick-off time for 21h00 in the middle of November.  Brrrr....

The Scorers:

For France:
Try:  Penalty try
Con:  Skrela
Pen:  Skrela
Drop:  Medard

For Australia:
Tries:  Moore, Hynes
Con:  Giteau
Pens:  Giteau 2

Yellow card:  David Skrela (France - 75th minute - high tackle)

The teams:

France:  15 Maxime Medard, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Yannick Jauzion, 12 Benoit Baby, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 David Skrela, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Sébastien Chabal, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Benoit Lecouls, 18 Romain Millo Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Alexis Palisson.

Australia:  15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Stirling Mortlock (c), 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Hugh McMeniman, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Digby Ioane.

Venue:  Stade de France, Paris
Weather:  -2°C and clear, but with a strong north-westerly wind possibly bringing the odd flurry of snow later
Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Chris White (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official:  Giulio De Santis (Italy)

Wallabies trounce fiery France

Australia recorded successive wins over an under-strength France side with a 40-10 success in Brisbane on Saturday.

In the final game of rugby to be played under the "old" laws, Matt Giteau's faultless performance -- albeit against visitors with holidays on their minds -- was very much a warning shot to Tri-Nations rivals New Zealand and South Africa.

As predicted, the game at Suncorp Stadium was an non-contest, but for the Wallabies it was the perfect hit out before the Springboks come to town in fortnight's time.

All four tries -- scored by Peter Hynes, James Horwill and two from replacement Ryan Cross -- were created by the impressive Giteau, who also slotted 100 per cent of his goals.

And, boy, did the Wallabies come out firing as an early Giteau penalty was followed up by the same man's cross-field kick to wing Hynes for a clinical opening score on seven minutes -- unlike last week's early arm-wrestle.

The in-form fly-half then booted a further nine points to notch a personal milestone of 300 Test points, whilst extending the lead to 19 on the half-hour as things started to look ominous.

However, the Western Force star's most memorable play was yet to come.  In broken field, he pirouetted through an attempted tackle on the French 22 before slipping a backhand pass to the swan-diving James Horwill for his moment of glory.

With Australian tails now firmly up following their slick opening quarter, the result was sealed and therefore only pride was at stake for Marc Lièvremont's touring men.

Then came a temporary tide-turning incident that seemed to spur Les Bleus into life just as they had one knee on the Brisbane canvas.

An altercation between hooker Stephen Moore and flank Matthieu Lièvremont quickly turned into two packs going toe-to-toe with several punches thrown, mainly in the vicinity of Horwill's left eye.

And that was seemingly the tonic that France so desperately needed -- up until half-time at least -- as they went in with a penalty on the hooter from François Trinh-Duc.

Upon returning, the second period was not nearly as pulsating as what had past, as the Wallabies struggled to recapture their early magic.

Subsequently, Robbie Deans decided to shuffle his pack with his entire bench getting a run ahead of their southern hemisphere opener.

And it was replacement centre Cross who re-sparked the bonfire by crossing for a brace of well-taken tries with Giteau once again the provider.

But France had the last word, Francois Trinh-Duc finishing off a rare break-out with a consolation try in the final minute of the match.

Australia now have two weeks to get their minds and bodies right for the visit if the world champions in what will be a far sterner test than the French or Irish provided.

However, Deans may be without Cameron Shepherd -- the full-back departed the action on a stretcher with a worrying looking knee injury late in the record-breaking result.

Man of the match:  In an attacking master-class from the Australian fly-half, Matt Giteau was in scintillating form from the first minute as he set up the quartet of scores with a swagger that will keep Graham Henry and Peter de Villiers's homework books well inked.

Moment of the match:  Surely the off-the-cuff play from Giteau that set up James Horwill.  In a moment of brilliance the sniping ten slipped tackles before giving a pass that has to be seen to be believed.

Villain of the match:  In the dying embers of the first half, a seemingly innocuous altercation between Stephen Moore and Matthieu Lièvremont led to Imanol Harinordoquy throwing several punches in the direction of James Horwill.  The lock's eye subsequently held all of the proof of the number eight's busy fists!

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Hynes, Horwill, Cross 2
Con:  Giteau 4
Pen:  Giteau 4

For France:
Tries:  Trinh-Duc
Con:Yachvili
Pen:  Trinh-Duc

Australia:  15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Stirling Mortlock (c), 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Lachie Turner, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Stephen Hoiles, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Dean Mumm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Adam Freier, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Hugh McMeniman, 19 George Smith, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 Cameron Shepherd.

France:  15 Benjamin Thiery, 14 Alexis Palisson, 13 Maxim Mermoz, 12 Thibault Lacroix, 11 David Janin, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Sebastian Tillous-Borde, 8 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Matthieu Lièvremont, 5 Lionel Nallet (captain), 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Renaud Boyoud, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Pierre Correia.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Benoit Lecouls, 18 Louis Picamoles, 19 Benjamin Boyet, 20 Yannick Caballero, 21 Dimitri Yachvili, 22 Jean-Baptiste Peyras.

Referee:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Marius Jonker (South Africa), Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Kelvin Deaker (New Zealand)
Assessor:  Andrew Cole (Australia)

Australia not yet convincing

Australia helped themselves to a 34-13 win over France's second team in Sydney on Saturday, notching four tries in the process, but the Deans revolution to Australian rugby is far from complete.

Bar a ten-minute purple patch just after half-time in which the Wallabies racked up 17 unanswered points, the teams were pretty evenly-matched.  The French ought to have shaded the opening exchanges rather than just being level at 3-3 after half an hour.

Had they been possessed of a game-plan with which to attack the Wallabies, they would have been, but their superiority looked as though it surprised themselves more than anyone.

It was left to a moment of Matt Giteau genius to break the deadlock in the first half, and that ten minutes after half-time -- in which the French missed an astonishing 13 tackles -- sealed the win, but even thereafter the Wallabies made hard going of it.

The imprint of Robbie Deans on Australia is clear to see; in fact, the way in which the team went about -- or rather, tried to go about -- its business in the first 20 minutes meant the team could have been coached by very few others.

The emphasis was on quick ball at all costs, with frequent passes to exploit the width mixed with big, pacy, hitting runners up the 10-12 channel.  As few players as possible were committed to attacking rucks in order to ensure plentiful and immediate forward support at all breakdowns, as well as a lack of obstructive cluttered flesh for the half-back player.  The inside backs were encouraged to step inside and dummy and see if they couldn't make the defensive line crooked, and wingers encouraged to come off their wings to do the same.  Once that chink was created, then the ball could go wide most effectively to exploit the space.

It is remarkably difficult to stop when it's done right, but there are two key elements:  1) that all players numbered 4-12 are possessed of the necessary ball-skill to produce quick, clean, and accurate scrum-half service so as to keep the forward momentum going and ensure the defence cannot re-align, and 2) that the ruckers both stay on their feet and do not drive over too enthusiastically and leave the ball exposed.

It's here that Australia are falling down in the way that, say, the Crusaders used not to.  It is still probably a case of familiarity and match practice for most of the players, but the number of times the distribution from the back of a breakdown went awry -- not just from Luke Burgess by any stretch of the imagination -- in the first 20 minutes was alarming, as was the number of times the ball was exposed enough for the French to turn the ball over.  Four turnovers alone in the first ten minutes tells its own story, and there were a number of penalties conceded for going off the feet (both teams were guilty here).  The rucks did tighten up as a reaction, but the pace came off the Australian game as well.

Moreover, the set piece is not yet a finished article.  The front row was twice penalised for being over-enthusiastic in its engagement timing early on, a couple of other times the props' driving angles were hideously upward, and some early line-outs were stolen with disturbing ease.

Perhaps it's unfair to compare a team Deans has coached for two matches to a team he coached for seven years, particularly given the irritating oscillation between the sets of laws, but the Australian media is unlikely to be thinking in terms of such clemency if the Wallabies' game stutters like this in the Tri-Nations.  Deans has set his own bar at an extraordinary level, but the unforgiving urgency to deliver at national level is becoming more and more apparent to him.

France ought to have done more, plain and simple.  They were sluggish and devoid of confidence during the first 20 minutes in which they were gifted some gems of turnover possession which just weren't used.  Only after Dimitri Yachvili had levelled the scores at 3-3 did the spark come back into French play, in the form of an exhilarating series of offloads in tackles from the restart which could have yielded a try with better communication.  Their start to the second half was soporific, and it let the game get far too far away to bother trying to catch up.

Tactically there isn't too much to analyse -- the teams that contest the November internationals and next year's Six Nations will not feature many of these players -- but Alexis Palisson is one to watch for the future (not many people step Lote Tuqiri in their first ten minutes of international rugby), François Trinh-Duc is not a centre, Imanol Harinordoquy is still immensely frustrating, and Louis Picamoles is set for great things.  It also showed, as an aside, just how much needs to be invested at Biarritz to rejuvenate the club and players -- all of the Basques in the French team played with the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Giteau had missed a sitter from in front of the posts before he finally opened the scoring after 21 minutes when a French ball-carrier held on to the ball, but Yachvili equalised three minutes later when a Wallaby tackler refused to roll away.  That was the scoring for most of the first half, but Giteau's opportunist spot of Chabal opposite him and burst of pace outside the 'caveman' gave Australia the try their superior possession and territory had earned.

The French had begun to slip off tackles a couple of minutes prior to that as Australia's runners kept up their assault, and Berrick Barnes would have scored had he not lost his footing under pressure from ... erm ... well, just lost his footing.  Yachvili landed a penalty to make it 10-6 at the break.

Breaks by Burgess and Barnes, and then three well-controlled close-range rucks gave Nathan Sharpe a try jut after half-time, and French heads dropped.  Elsom burst through what was little more than a swat from Damien Traille for the third try, and Stirling Mortlock picked off a pass that was more 20-80 than 50-50 from Trinh-Duc for the fourth.

It was better rugby from Australia, but it was not as fast as they wanted, and as a result, the French were able to fight their way back in.  Palisson rounded off a superb debut with a try with fifteen minutes to go with Trinh-Duc converting, after which both teams seemed to think they had done their bit for the day.

Man of the match:  For France, Alexis Palisson, Sebastian Bruno, and Lionel Nallet all played fine matches.  In Australia's ranks, Peter Hynes, Cameron Shepherd, Rocky Elsom and George Smith all did well, but Berrick Barnes showed just how well he has converted from fly-half to centre by making several telling breaks and dummies and marking the novice François Trinh-Duc out of the game.

Moment of the match:  Damien Traille's flap at Rocky Elsom. A moment of utter despondency and surrender.

Villain of the match:  Nothing to report, despite some fun and frolics in the front row.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Giteau, Sharpe, Elsom, Mortlock
Cons:  Giteau 4
Pens:  Giteau 2

For France:
Try:  Palisson
Con:  Trinh-Duc
Pens:  Yachvili 2

Australia:  15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Stirling Mortlock (c), 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Adam Freier, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 Adam Ashley-Cooper.

France:  15 Pepito Elhorga, 14 Alexis Palisson, 13 Damien Traille, 12 François Trinh-Duc, 11 Benjamin Thiéry, 10 Benjamin Boyet, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Louis Picamoles, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Sébastien Chabal, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Benoît Lecouls, 2 Sébastien Bruno, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements:  16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Renaud Boyoud, 18 David Couzinet, 19 Mathieu Lièvremont, 20 Sébastien Tillous-Borde, 21 Thibault Lacroix, 22 David Janin.

Referee:  Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Touch judges:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Television match official:  Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
Assessor:  Wayne Erickson (Australia)

Wallabies dazed by dazzling French

Les Bleus spoil Gregan's party

Australia's tour of Europe got off to a stuttering start as they felt the full force of dazzling France, going down 26-16 at Marseille's Stade Vélodrome on Saturday night.

The Wallabies' stock in world rugby has plummeted following their disappointing Tri-Nations campaign this summer and they suffered at the hands of the French, whose combination of breathtaking back-play and power in the pack proved too much for their opponents.

Led by the impish half-back pairing of Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Frédéric Michalak, Les Bleus scored two tries -- through Cédric Haymans and Rémy Martin -- and displayed an unswerving work ethic in defence to restrict Australia to just three penalties from the boot of Mat Rogers and a last-gasp touchdown by substitute Drew Mitchell.

France, who went into the interval with just a one-point advantage at 10-9 could even cope with forced withdrawal of Michalak through injury at the start of the second half as Elissalde took over kicking duties to bag himself 11 points.

The result means Australia have lost their last six internationals, while for George Gregan, the veteran scrum-half, it was a disappointing way to celebrate a record-breaking 115th Test appearance.

A sumptuous passage of play involving Toulouse quartet Michalak, Yannick Jauzion, Cédric Heymans and Yannick Nyanga was an early sign of things to come for Australia as France demonstrated a willingness to run at their opponents from anywhere.

Michalak booted over his side's first points with a penalty in the eighth minute but the Wallabies restored parity through Rogers' three-pointer six minutes later.

The mercurial Michalak was wayward with a straightforward penalty moments later before a Nyanga try in the right corner was disallowed after the rampaging flanker was adjudged to have been offside when Elissalde fired over a bomb to the wing.

France were the more dangerous in the opening 20 minutes and it came as no surprise when they went over for the first try in the 25th minute.

It owed much to guile and fleet of foot of Michalak, whose jinking run was ended five yards out.  The ball was slow to be recycled but Elissalde found Heymans cutting in and the winger galloped over beneath the posts.

The conversion was added but the deficit was reduced immediately through Rogers' second penalty.

A third soon followed on the stroke of half-time to make it 10-9, although Australia may have been hoping for more a minute earlier when Morgan Turinui and Rogers linked well on the left before the move was brought to a shuddering halt by France centre Florian Fritz.

The lively Rogers again came close to going over at the start of second half after a bullocking charge but with the French defence in disarray as a result, Brendan Cannon knocked on just five yards out.

Michalak, who had been a thorn in Australia's side in the first half, was forced off with a shoulder injury in the 46th minute after he felt the full force of a crunching Mark Chisholm hit.

Castres' Yann Delaigue was drafted on as his replacement but it did not disrupt Les Bleus' rhythm as they increased their lead, first via Elissalde's penalty and then through Martin's try in the 51st minute.

The Stade Français flanker charged down a Matt Giteau kick before Fritz was dragged down a yard out after chasing the loose ball.

Martin followed up, however, to gather and ground in one movement, with Elissalde providing the conversion.

Elissalde made it 23-9 on the hour mark with a superbly-struck penalty from the right touchline and another in the 72nd minute added gloss to the scoreline.

Substitute Mitchell's converted injury-time try following good work by full-back Chris Latham blotted France's copybook but the win for the hosts was never in doubt.

Australia face England at Twickenham next Saturday before playing against Ireland and Wales.

France will host Canada next Saturday in Nantes before taking on Tonga in Toulouse and South Africa at the Stade de France on successive weekends.

Man of the match:  The Wallabies were committed to a man, and the likes of Chris Latham and Lote Tuqiri showed their usual commitment to the cause.  But this award must go to a Frenchman.  Cédric Heymans was effective, Yannick Jauzion clever, Frédéric Michalak magical and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde determined and resourceful.  But our choice is the obscenely athletic Yannick Nyanga -- the industrious young flank has a massive future ahead of him.

Moment of the match:  So many brilliant moments from both sides, but the sight of both teams -- and a marching band -- being soaked by an impromptu appearance of the sprinklers will live long in the mind!  Imagine what these two teams could have produced on a dry track?  But the show was stolen by the build up to Cédric Heymans's try -- a superlative piece of play.  Great hands, great vision, great natural ability and Freddy's dancing feet!  A mention, too, for the rapturous welcome received by Thomas Castaignède on his return to the Test stage.

Villain of the match:  The hectic pace meant that there wasn't time for too much funny business, but Brendon Cannon still managed to open his face on the outstretched elbow of Fabien Pelous.  We'll leave the citing commissioners to decide whether it was malicious or not, and leave this gong on ice for the moment.  But don't expect to see the French skipper in his rugby kit for about four to six weeks.

The scorers:

For France:
Tries:  Heymans, Martin
Cons:  Elissalde 2
Pens:  Elissalde 3, Michalak

For Australia:
Try:  Mitchell
Cons:  Rogers
Pen:  Rogers

The teams:

France:  15 Julien Laharrague, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 Florian Fritz (Thomas Castaignède, 63), 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Frédéric Michalak (Yann Delaigue, 46) , 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 8 Rémy Martin, 7 Thomas Lièvremont (Sébastien Chabal, 75), 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous (Lionel Nallet, 67), 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (Sébastien Bruno, 60), 1 Olivier Milloud (Sylvain Marconnet, 68).
Unused:  19 Grégory Lamboley

Australia:  15 Chris Latham, 14 Wendell Sailor, 13 Lote Tuqiri (Lloyd Johansson, 59), 12 Morgan Turinui, 11 Mat Rogers, 10 Matt Giteau (Drew Mitchell, 63), 9 George Gregan (Chris Whitaker, 74), 8 George Smith, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Rocky Elsom (John Roe, 60), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Mark Chisholm (Hugh McMeniman, 63), 3 Al Baxter, 2 Brendan Cannon (Stephen Moore, 59), 1 Matt Dunning (Greg Holmes, 80).

Referee:  Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges:  Kelvin Deaker and Lyndon Bray (both New Zealand)
Television match official:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)

Australia 37 France 31

Two second-half tries by Morgan Turinui helped Australia survive a late scare and beat France 37-31 in Brisbane.

The Wallabies outscored France by six tries to four in the one-off Test and could have won by a much bigger margin.

But centre Matt Giteau's goalkicking was poor, succeeding just two of his eight attempts.

Australia, leading 15-7 at half-time, were forced to hang on after the break as the French hit back, but replacement Turinui finally settled their nerves.

Giteau opened the scoring for Australia with an early penalty.

But French winger Cedric Heymans pounced to intercept a Chris Latham pass and cross for the first try.

Australia hit back with tries by fly-half Stephen Larkham and fullback Latham to establish a comfortable lead.

But France scored immediately after the interval, with wing Julien Laharrague going over.

They also scored tries through Damien Traille and Julien Candelon, with captain Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicking four out of four conversions, plus a penalty.

The teams:

Australia:  Chris Latham, Wendell Sailor, Stirling Mortlock, Matt Giteau, Lote Tuqiri, Stephen Larkham, George Gregan (capt), David Lyons, George Smith, Rocky Elsom, Nathan Sharpe, Mark Chisholm, Al Baxter, Jeremy Paul, Bill Young.
Replacements used:  Morgan Turinui, Chris Whitaker, Mat Rogers, John Roe, Al Campbell, Matt Dunning, Stephen Moore.

France:  Nicolas Brusque, Julien Laharrague, Yannick Jauzion, Benoit Baby, Cedric Heymans, Frederic Michalak, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (capt), Julien Bonnaire, Olivier Magne, Remy Martin, Pascal Pape, Gregory Lamboley, Denis Avril, Dimitri Swarzewski, Olivier Milloud.
Replacements used:  Yannick Nyanga, Sylvain Marconnet, Pieter De Villiers, Sebastien Bruno, Damien Traille, Julien Candelon, Thibault Privat.

Referee:  Nigel Williams (Wales)

France 27 Australia 14

France outgunned Australia in a pulsating match in Paris for a first win over the Wallabies for three years.

Nicolas Brusque and Frederic Michalak scored tries and scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicked 17 points for France's eighth straight win.

Captain George Gregan scored for the Wallabies but his side were undone by French invention and stout defence.

Australia trailed 12-11 at half time and struggled to find their spark against the Six Nations champions.

France coach Bernard Laporte said:  "I am proud of my players.  They battled to win this match by applying a lot of defensive pressure and taking risks.

"And don't forget we were kept out three times on the try line."

Australia coach Eddie Jones admitted his side "just weren't good enough".

"The second half was really disappointing, there were too many turnovers.  We would have needed to be tactically and technically better.  We didn't respond to the pressure," said Jones.

"Our consistency was not good enough.  We went back to our old habits.  It just wasn't good enough."

Points Scorers:

France:  (12) 27
Tries:  Brusque, Michalak
Cons:  Elissalde
Pens:  Elissalde (5)

Australia:  (11) 14
Tries:  Gregan
Pens:  Giteau, Flatley (2)

The teams:

France:  Brusque, Rougerie, Marsh, Jauzion, Heymans, Michalak, Elissalde, Milloud, Servat, Marconnet, Thion, Pelous, Betsen, Magne, Harinordoquy.
Replacements:  Bruno, Mas, Pape, Bonnaire, Peyrelongue, Poitrenaud, Dominici.

Australia:  Latham, Rathbone, Mortlock, Giteau, Tuqiri, Larkham, Gregan, Young, Paul, Baxter, Harrison, Vickerman, Smith, Waugh, Roe.
Replacements:  Cannon, Dunning, Chisholm, Lyons, Flatley, Rogers, Sailor.

Referee:  Chris White (RFU)

Australia 31 France 25

An 18-point blitz midway through the second half -- including 10 points from Stirling Mortlock -- was just enough to hold off a determined late charge by France.  The Wallabies eventually managed to squeeze out a 31-25 win at Stadium Australia in Sydney.

The Wallabies out-scored the French by four tries to three and held a 13-8 advantage at the break.

In the end the home team needed a strong finish, and it was some resolute defensive in those frenetic final few minutes which held off a fast-charging French team.

It was a game of constant changes.

Australia first held sway, to lead 13-0, before the French came back late in the first half and eventually took the lead early in the second period.  Then the Wallabies again took the lead -- scoring 18 unanswered points -- before having to hold on desperately as the French launched a massive onslaught on their tryline.

As a build-up towards the Tri-Nations, the Wallabies could not have wished for a better game.  It was hard, fast and a good test of both their attacking and defensive abilities.

They passed the test, but just.

French lock Olivier Brouzet, in an interview after the match, gave the credit for the Wallaby win to their halfback combination -- scrumhalf and captain George Gregan, along with flyhalf Stephen Larkham.

But Gregan was the first to admit that a lot of work still lies ahead for his team ahead of the Tri-Nations.  "We slacked off just before half-time and again towards the end of the match and those are certainly areas of our game we have to work on," he said.

But he will certainly be pleased with the variation the Wallabies showed on attack and the manner in which they managed to keep the ball through numerous phases ... at times in the match.

But as Gregan rightfully pointed out, there were some very worrying lapses and the French managed to exploit those.

The visitors certainly looked dangerous with the ball in hand, but they also showed how vulnerable the Wallabies can be when the opposition counter quickly.

Defensively the Wallabies also left some gaping holes, especially on the wing of Wendell Sailor.  While he is an exciting player when running with the ball, Sailor's all-round game leaves a lot to be desired ... at least by Wallaby standards.

There were many other positives for the Wallabies to take from this game.  The other league convert, Mat Rogers, looked very dangerous during his stint on the field, and clearly has a very good conception of the angles he need to run.

Young South African-born lock Daniel Vickerman also made a satisfying Wallaby debut, adding more depth to an already impressive Australian team.

From a French point of view there are also more positives than negatives, but they will be concerned by the number of opportunities wasted -- especially the manner in which their hands let them down.

But they showed heart and to have come back twice in the game and come so close show just how dangerous this young French team is going to be at Rugby World Cup 2003.

Man of the match:  Daniel Herbert had a good game with some strong runs, and Wendell Sailor did impress on the attack.  But the standout player was undoubtedly Stirling Mortlock.  He a constant nuisance to the French defenders and he even helped his forwards out -- to great effect -- during kick-offs.  He was richly rewarded for his work with two great tries, while he also added a penalty and a conversion.

Villain of the match:  There was only one yellow card, which went to Wallaby flank Owen Finegan for an unnecessary dangerous shoulder charge on French flanker Serge Betsen.  The number of acts of thuggery that he has been involved in over the years must be cause for concern ... that is if his coaches care about stamping out such acts.

Moment of the match:  French winger Aurélien Rougerie's second try, four minutes from time, when the French started a late charge, was one of those moments that ensure this is a match that will be remembered for some time.  It started when Elton Flatley kicked downfield and Nicolas Brusque tidied up, before slipping a wonderful pass to Olivier Magne, who cut straight through Australia's defence.  Magne had no support and was stopped by Chris Latham, but suddenly the French arrived in numbers and they went to the right.  The Wallaby defence scrambled and the ball went loose, but Rougerie picked up the pass and with his strength went over for his second try of the night.  When Merceron kicked the conversion you suddenly sensed that France might win this one.

The teams:

Australia:  1 Patricio Noriega, 2 Brendan Cannon, 3 Bill Young, 4 Justin Harrison, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 6 Owen Finegan, 7 George Smith, 8 David Lyons, 9 George Gregan (c), 10 Steve Larkham, 11 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Matthew Burke, 13 Dan Herbert, 14 Wendell Sailor, 15 Chris Latham
Reserves:  Matt Cockbain, Elton Flatley, Rod Moore, Mat Rogers, Sean Hardman, Daniel Vickerman
Unused:  Chris Whitaker

France:  1 Jean-Jacques Crenca, 2 Raphael Ibanez (c), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Olivier Brouzet, 5 Fabien Pelous, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Sebastien Chabal, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 9 Frederic Michalak, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Tony Marsh, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Pepito Elhorga, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves:  Cedric Heymans, Olivier Magne, Yannick Jauzion, Pierre Mignoni, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Christophe Porcu
Unused:  Olivier Azam

Attendance:  64703
Referee:  Honiss p.

Points Scorers

Australia
Tries:  Burke M.C. 1, Herbert D.J., Mortlock S.A. 2
Conv:  Mortlock S.A. 1
Pen K.:  Burke M.C. 1, Mortlock S.A. 1
Drop G.:  Gregan G.M. 1

France
Tries:  Rougerie A. 2, Marconnet S. 1
Conv:  Merceron G. 2
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 2