France remained in the hunt for RBS Six Nations glory after defeating a persistent Italian side 25-0, but if Bernard Laporte's men were hoping to send out a message of intent to the likes England they failed. Les Bleus looked sluggish in attack and were unable to execute the final move that -- on a number of occasions -- would have led to an easy try.
France's day was summed up by Stade Français winger Christophe Dominici, who dropped the ball after trotting over the Italian line -- thereby wasting yet another fluid attack from depth.
But to say that the low score of this ultimately unforgettable match sorely reflects France's inability to find the finishing touch is a massive injustice to the Italians, who put in a remorseless defensive performance, and had a few nice attacks of their own.
Italy, however, had a few problems with their finishing too -- but if they manage to keep their nerve (and the ball) for their remaining Six Nation fixtures, the Celtic nations will struggle to subdue their lively raids.
Indeed, Italy coach John Kirwan will be excused if he takes his boys out for a night on the Parisian tiles -- they look a much more rounded team than they did in 2003, and deserve a few beers after a week that saw them take on the world champions and France -- Rugby World Cup semi-finalists.
France started the game as they did against the Irish week -- slow and unsure of how to go about breaking down their visitors.
A missed penalty from scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, who took over the kicking duties from injured Toulouse colleague Frédéric Michalak, after only four minutes exemplified their unsettled state of mind, and they struggled to get the basics right.
But Elissalde made amends for his miss in the eighth minute, and France started to probe from deep to good effect.
Indeed, it was an impromptu counter-attack that lead to Frances' first try in the 23rd minute.
Italy won a line-out on the French 22, but scrappy distribution allowed France to fly-hack it ahead.
The French poured through the holes and ever-present scavenger Serge Betsen was on hand to keep the ball alive. Eventually the ball was spun wide to the left, and big No.8 Imanol Harinordoquy was on the wing to step through a couple of flaying challenges to score.
Italy responded well and came within an inch of a score after a break from Kiwi scrum-half Paul Griffen, and went into the break trailing by 10 points to nil down.
Italy would have fancied their chances of continuing the second period in the same pugnacious manner, but France centre Damien Traille soon pulled his side into a 13-0 lead with a huge penalty effort.
Dominici's clanger moments later lifted Italian hopes, but the French soon got their second try -- when they produced a carbon-copy of their first score -- in the 63 minute.
Betsen managed to clean up a scrappy line-out ball and the French manage to work the ball wide to the left where Harinordoquy was lurking, and he once again he powered through two tackles to crash over the line.
As the game headed into the final 10 minutes, France look to have clinched a third only for replacement prop Jean-Jacques Crenca's impressive burst to be disallowed for crossing.
But, following a turnover, a sharp sprint form replacement Pepito Elhorga was enough to ensure the French of a third try and a deceptively good-looking 25-0 final scoreline.
Man of the match: Imanol Harinordoquy deserves a big mention for a brace of well-taken tries -- but our award goes to a gutsy performance in adversity from Italy scrum-half Paul Griffen. In only his second game for the Azzurri, the New Zealand-born scrum-half harried his forwards to keep up the fight for the full 80 minutes, and patrolled behind his backs in readiness for any French breaks. Any aspiring No.9 should have a watch of this game -- Griffen put in a text book defensive performance.
Moment of the match: When Christophe Dominici sliced through the last line of Italian defence early in the second half, the Stade de France crowd erupted -- and so should have: all the little wing had to do was ground the ball. This, however, proved beyond the veteran of two Rugby World Cups. Looking for the front-page picture in Sunday's L'Equipe, the Stade Français flyer tried to put in a photogenic one-handed touchdown only to lose the ball off his leg. If Dominici had found a shovel lying beside the advertising hoardings he collapsed into, he would have surely dug himself a hole!
Villain of the match: No contest -- see above! Not looking too cool now, are we Christophe? Quelle faux-pas!
The Teams:
France: 1 Pieter De Villiers, 2 William Servat, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 4 Fabien Pelous (c), 5 Pascal Pape, 6 Serge Betsen Tchoua, 7 Olivier Magne, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 11 Vincent Clerc, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 13 Damien Traille, 14 Christophe Dominici, 15 Nicolas Brusque
Reserves: David Auradou, Yannick Bru, Jean-Jacques Crenca, Thomas Lievremont, Pepito Elhorga, Dimitri Yachvili
Unused: Brian Liebenberg
Italy: 1 Leandro Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 3 Andrea Lo Cicero, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Santiago Dellape, 6 Andrea De Rossi (c), 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Sergio Parisse, 9 Paul Griffen, 10 Rima Wakarua-Noema, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Matteo Barbini, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Mirco Bergamasco, 15 Roland De Marigny
Reserves: Manuel Dallan, Carlo Festuccia, Carlo Checchinato, Nicola Mazzucato, Salvatore Perugini
Unused: Silvio Orlando, Simon Picone
Attendance: 79080
Referee: Lewis a.
Points Scorers:
France
Tries: Harinordoquy I. 2, Elhorga P. 1
Conv: Elissalde J-B. 2
Pen K.: Traille D. 1, Elissalde J-B. 1
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