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.
No comments:
Post a Comment