Les Bleus still in with a shout
Two sudden tries in the last three minutes stretched France's victory over Italy at Stadio Flaminio in Rome to 56-13, giving them a points difference of 42 and still the possibility of retaining the RBS Six Nations title.
It may have looked at one stage in the first half as if France were going to break records in running away with the match, but Italy were not going to be milk cows, and in the end the margin of victory may just have flattered the French.
Under blue Italian skies Gert Peens of Italy kicked off to get the last weekend of the RBS Six Nations under way. Yann Delaigue kicked out and Fabien Pelous barged at the first line-out. With the breeze at his back Peens goaled the long kick.
Italy led 3-0 after three minutes and the crowd chanted: "Italia! Italia!"
Delaigue broke well but passed to an Italian, but when the Italians were marched on 10 metres at a penalty Dimitri Yachvili levelled the scores. All square after seven minutes.
A ghastly pass then rolled behind the French centres. Christophe Dominici stayed behind to gather and looked in terrible trouble as three Italian warriors bore down on him.
But with astonishing strength and verve the small wing burst away from them and down the field to give a pass to Yannick Nyanga and the young flank burst over for this first try for France. Yachvili converted from touch. 10-3 to France after ten minutes, and the crowd chanted: "Allez les Bleus! Allez les Bleus!"
Just after this Italy skipper Marco Bortolami took out Pelous's support in the line-out bringing the French captain crashing to earth. For this Bortolami was sent to the sin bin.
Dominici set up the next try when he beat Kaine Robertson and stayed on his feet to pass to Yannick Jauzion who swivelled over Alessandro Troncon's tackle for the try, which Yachvili again converted. 17-3 after 16 minutes.
Back came the French on attack and back came Bortolami from the sin bin just in time to witness an astonishing try.
Delaigue was going left and switched to pass infield, but the pass found Italy's Kaine Robertson who sprinted some 80 metres down the field for a try that caused much joy to echo around the Seven Hills of Rome. Peens converted. France led 17-10 after 25 minutes.
Just after this Delaigue had a kick charged down, Andrea Lo Cicero went on the burst and then the Italians had a passage of brilliant, quick handling which ended when the referee penalised Martin Castrogiovanni for holding on, and catcalls echoed around the ground.
Then came a horrible incident. Dominici was running off to his right, drawing the Italians to allow room for Yachvili. Bortolami shoved a shoulder into him from the front and Salvatore Perugini drove into him from behind with a swinging arm -- both actions fractionally late. There was a long hiatus while Dominici was brought back from unconsciousness and taken off on a stretcher-car to be taken to the San Pietro Hospital for observation and treatment for shock.
The French got their third try as they came right and Dominic Traille, a replacement for Dominici, drew two defenders to send Nicolas Laharrague running free down the wing for a try in the corner. Yachvili converted.
They nearly scored again before the break but Delaigue's pass to Yannick Nyanga was forward.
At half-time France led 24-10.
Peens kicked his second penalty to make it 24-13 and then the French settled down to attack.
Yachvili passed under pressure and centre Simon Picone intercepted and went off, but he lacked Robertson's speed and was hunted down by Traille. The ball went loose and Cédric Heymans footed it back towards his own line, gathered it and cleared.
To catcalls Yachvili then kicked two penalty goals as the French were intent on scoring points. They led 30-13 with 28 minutes to play.
Heymans nearly scored when he set off down the left touch-line but a fragment of the outside of his left boot touched a sliver of the white line and a line-out ensued instead of the try.
The French patiently built up an attack in midfield. David Marty, on debut, picked up a bouncing ball, and sped 45 metres down the middle of the field for a try, an echo of Benoît Baby's against Ireland the week before. Yachvili converted. 37-13 to France with 14 minutes to go and substitutions streamed onto the field.
The French made a line-out a maul and drove at the Italian line. Scrum-half Pierre Mignoni broke away and fed Grégory Lamboley who plunged over. Michalak converted. 44-13 with nine minutes to play.
Traille did a switch with Laharrague and the French went off with sharp, short passes -- Traille to Jauzion to Serge Betsen to Pierre Mignoni and then to Marty who raced over for this second try in a good position but Michalak missed the conversion. 39-13 with three minutes left.
France came back, but their handling broke down. Italy heeled at the pressurised scrum and Mignoni picked up and raced 50 undeviating metres to score. Michalak converted and France had a lead of 42 points.
Man of the Match: Christophe Dominici was an early candidate, but he was forced out of the game with injury. Italian candidates were Alessandro Troncon and Sergio Parisse. But out choice is Yannick Nyanga, the tall young flank who scored the first try, did so well in the line-out, won ball, carried ball and made tackles.
Moment of the Match: Kaine Robertson's intercept and long run as the French scurried back.
Villain of the match: Italian skipper Marco Bortolami for the yellow card. There is also a case for the action that destroyed Christophe Dominici.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Try: Robertson
Con: Peens
Pens: Peens 2
For France:
Tries: Nyanga, Jauzion, Laharrague, Marty 2, Lamboley, Mignoni
Cons: Yachvili 4, Michalak 2
Pens: Yachvili 2
The teams:
Italy: 15 Gert Peens, 14 Paul Kaine Robertson (Roberto Pedrazzi, 65), 13 Andrea Masi, 12 Simon Picone (Roberto Pedrazzi, 55-60), 11 Ludovico Nitoglia, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Alessandro Troncon (Paul Griffen, 57), 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 David Dal Maso (Silvio Orlando, 70), 6 Aaron Persico, 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Santiago Dellape (Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3-9, 60) , 3 Salvatore Perugini, 2 Fabio Ongaro (Carlo Festuccia, 55), 1 Andrea Lo Cicero (Martin Castrogiavanni, 28).
Unused replacement: 21 Roland De Marigny
France: 15 Julien Laharrague, 14 Cédric Heymans, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Christophe Dominici (Damien Traille, 32), 10 Yann Delaigue (Frédéric Michalak, 60), 9 Dimitri Yachvili (Pierre Mignoni, 69), 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Yannick Nyanga (Grégory Lamboley, 66), 6 Serge Betsen, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous (Pascal Papé, 71), 3 Nicolas Mas (Pieter de Villiers, 41), 2 Sébastien Bruno (William Servat, 59), 1 Sylvain Marconnet.
Referee: Donal Courtney (Ireland)
Touch judges: Tony Spreadbury (England), Rob Dickson (Scotland)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
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