France banished the ghost of Twickenham past at the first time of asking as they demolished Italy 50-8 in a classy showing at the Stadio Flaminio on Saturday.
So much their pride was dented after going down by 24 points at English rugby's HQ, sleepless nights had marred Les Bleus' build-up for their final Six Nations fixture of 2009.
But in blustery yet sunny conditions, Marc Lièvremont's side were completely unrecognisable from last week as they cut loose with a blistering seven tries erasing any lasting memories of that horror defeat.
Four changes were made in preparation for the contest but it could be argued that none really made much difference as all members involved six days ago had scores to personal matters to settle...and that they did in emphatic style with Italy having no answers to the men in blue.
The visitors got the ball rolling early on as they took the early steam out of the usual Azzurri fight with the assured Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc acting as puppeteers for a thoroughly entertaining show.
Bourgoin's number nine knocked over two penalties before sixteen minutes had past as he beat the slightly testing elements to open up a 6-0 lead whilst putting his pack in the correct places.
Then on the other side of an Andrea Marcato three points, France were back into their stride with a moment of brilliance lifting the game to new heights. First it was the size of Yannick Jauzion who rose well to claim a Garryowen before unleashing Sebastien Chabal down the left wing. The second row had 20 metres separating him from five points and with the ball in one hand like a small child, he crashed over with Parra's conversion soon to follow.
Chabal's score proved to be the catalyst of something memorable in Rome -- for everyone other than the hosts -- as two quick-fire tries were not too far in coming. From a lineout on halfway, it was fly-half Trinh-Duc who answered his critics with a glorious dummy and step before racing to the whitewash before less than a minute later, Maxime Medard added his name to the list as he finished off Thierry Dusautoir's good work.
France were doing what England had done to them as the possession stakes read an unbelievable 78 per cent in favour of the visitors!
Things did not get any better for the Italians moments after the turnaround though, as flanker Mauro Bergamasco reinacted his own Twickenham nightmare with a shocking pass that was gobbled up by Cedric Heymans as the fourth try was posted.
Before kick-off a punter could have got France at a tempting 100/1 to finish the tournament in second place as a healthy win coupled with Scotland and Ireland winning later in the day was the task.
And with captain Lionel Nallet getting in on the act on 55 minutes, the more conservative among us were left on tenterhooks.
More woe was to come for Italy in the end though, as a second try for Medard and one for replacement winger Julien Malzieu brought up the half-century to add extra gloss to what was another wooden spoon for the hosts.
Man of the match: Despite leaving the procession midway through the second period, Morgan Parra was superb at the base and wider out. However, the man one out from him was even better as Francois Trinh-Duc's individual score was great reward for his performance.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Parisse
Pen: Marcato
For France:
Tries: Chabal, Trinh-Duc, Medard 2, Heymans, Nallet, Malzieu
Con: Parra 3
Pen: Parra 3
Italy: 15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Giulio Rubini, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Matteo Pratichetti, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Roberto Quartaroli.
France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Sebastien Chabal, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 William Servat, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Frederic Michalak, 21 Mathieu Bastareaud, 22 Julien Malzieu.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
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