France 33 Italy 12

Bernard Laporte's French team left off where they finished last season when they outplayed Italy in the first Lloyds TSB Six Nations match of 2002 at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday.  The final score of 33-12 actually flattered Les Bleus, whom made too many errors in the match.

It wasn't a memorable match, and France would not be happy with the amount of good possession they threw away by making handling errors.  Playing like this is not going to get Les Bleus anywhere in the Six Nations, and that's for sure!

However, the Italians deserve a pat on the back for their sturdy defence, which was one of the reasons for all the French mistakes.

At the same time their discipline was poor and referee Alan Lewis sent four Azzurri players to the sin-bin.  At one stage they played with only 13 men.

In fact, it was while lock Carlo Checchinato was in the bin before the break, that the home team scored 16 unanswered points to take a 19-12 half-time lead.

But for 35 minutes the French machine spluttered in first gear.  The numerous handling errors and four kickable penalties, which Diego Dominguez, Italy's veteran flyhalf, easily converted into points, saw the Laporte's troops trial 3-12 after 30 minutes.

The tide started turning after 35 minutes when Checchinato was penalised and binned for over-zealous use of the boot.  Within three minutes Gérald Merceron converted two penalties into points and the score changed to 12-6.

Then, on 40 minutes, French centre Damien Traille burst through the Italian defence for the first try of the 2002 Six Nations.  He beat his opponent on the outside and had too much pace for the cover defenders.

Merceron's conversion and another penalty on the stroke of half-time saw Les Bleus take a 19-12 lead at the break.

It was one-way traffic after the rest period and although France struggled to breach the Italian defence, Merceron's boot kept the score-board ticking as the visitors conceded penalty after penalty.

The French looked dangerous in the final stages, but their hands failed them and Italy escaped from jail on a number of occasions.

The only kickable penalties Italy got in the second half was when Dominguez was in the bin for continuously standing offside, and all Cristian Stoica could do was boot the ball into touch.

The French scored a late try when Serge Betsen walzed over in the corner as the Italian defence finally collapsed.  That try changed the score to 33-12, which flatters the home team as they were not that much better than the visitors.

France's best players were captain Olivier Magne, South African-born No.8 Steven Hall, Betsen, Merceron (who missed two attempts at goal) and Traille, while Luca Martin and Allesandro Troncon never gave up for Italy.  Dominguez also slotted four from four at goal.

Man of the Match:  The contenders were Gérald Merceron, Diego Dominguez (for their solid goal-kicking) and Steven Hall, but Damien Traille takes the award for two moments of brilliance of which one lead to his try.

Moment of the Match:  As there were very few highlights in this match, Traille's try gets it.

Villain of the Match:  Any one of the five players that spent time in the sin-bin:  France's David Auradou was first, then followed four Italians Diego Dominguez, Matthew Phillips, Mauro Bortolami and Carlo Checchinato, who gets it because it was while he was off the field that the French took control of the match.

The teams:

France:  1 Jean-Jacques Crenca, 2 Yannick Bru, 3 Pieter De Villiers, 4 David Auradou, 5 Thibault Privat, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne (c), 8 Steven Hall, 9 Frederic Michalak, 10 Gerald Merceron, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Tony Marsh, 13 Damien Traille, 14 David Bory, 15 Nicolas Jeanjean
Reserves:  Xavier Garbajosa, Raphael Ibanez, Fabien Pelous, Alexandre Albouy
Unused:  Francois Gelez, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Elvis Vermeulen

Italy:  1 Andrea Lo Cicero, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Andrea Muraro, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Marco Bortolami, 8 Matthew Phillips, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Roberto Pedrazzi, 15 Paolo Vaccari
Reserves:  Mirco Bergamasco, Giampiero De Carli, Mark Giacheri, Alejandro Moreno, Aaron Persico
Unused:  Ramiro Pez, Juan Manuel Queirolo

Attendance:  62000
Referee:  Lewis a.

Points Scorers

France
Tries:  Betsen Tchoua S. 1, Traille D. 1
Conv:  Merceron G. 1
Pen K.:  Merceron G. 7

Italy
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 4