The Wallabies have survived a late scare from the French to secure a 25-23 victory. Here are my talking points for the Wallabies coming out of the win.
All the wash-up from France vs Wallabies:
» Match report: Wallabies outlast France
» Diggercane’s talking points
» What changes should the Wallabies make for Ireland?
» Vote on our DIY player ratings
» Re-live the match with our live blog
» WATCH the highlights from the match
The Grand Slam dream is still alive
It looked like the French were going to pinch a win when the Australian scrum collapsed with no time left on the clock but referee Glen Jackson put his whistle away. Camille Lopez had plenty of space to sink the Wallabies but he missed the drop goal away to the left of the posts.
The Wallabies will now face their toughest task of this tour with Ireland and England to finish it off.
Kuridrani’s try
The French had just scored a try through Virimi Vakatawa, some great handling and moves before the try were extremely impressive. At the end of it all Will Genia who made a break a few phases earlier threw a poor pass to Tevita Kuridrani who made the most of the overlap to score a fantastic try in the corner, giving the Wallabies a 25-16 advantage with just over 20 minutes to go.
A glimpse of the future
We got a look at a few Wallabies who will certainly be part of the representative scene over the coming years. Tolu Latu in his first start was shaky early on giving a penalty and a not straight, but finished in solid fashion, Luke Morahan made the most of his start at fullback and looked damaging replacing the superstar Israel Folau.
Kyle Godwin was good in his debut and the Brumbies signing will only benefit from more games at Test level. Sefanaia Naivalu was good on the wing and laid a stinging shot on Wesley Fofana to stop on overlap that caused the French dangerman to lose the ball backwards, killing off momentum.
The penalty try
The Wallabies got a fantastic maul going in the first half, and Latu looked certain before a French collapse led to a penalty try and the French going down to 14 men.
Wallabies defence is hot and cold
When the game was on the line some scrambling defence saved the Wallabies when the French had an overlap and looked like they would score. Other times it was extremely shaky particularly when France was able to get quick ball.
Fofana caused a number of headaches for the Wallabies’ defence, and his try to bring the game within four points was as easy as you will see close to the line. However it stood up when the game was on the line, forcing the Lopez drop goal wide.
The set piece and scrum is a mess at times
At times with so many new faces in the side the set pieces looked quite disjointed. I still have my concerns of James Slipper at scrum time and during some scrums it looks like he is a liability. No doubt as this side gets more games together the set pieces will get better.
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