Australia has fallen at the first hurdle in their quest for an undefeated European tour with the Wallabies beaten-up 33-6 by a rampant French side at Stade de France in Paris.
The Wallabies had no answers to the powerful and flamboyant home side on Saturday night (Sunday AEDT) with the French scoring three tries to none, with one of those France tries a penalty try after the Australian scrum collapsed.
No.8 Louis Picamoles, who was among the tryscorers, and five-eighth Frederic Michalak were outstanding for the French. The veteran No.10 slotting 15 points, as France gained some revenge for their record 59-16 loss to the Wallabies last time they clashed at Stade de France in 2010.
The Australian scrum was dominated by the French who also punched holes up the middle of the Wallabies’ defence all night.
Picamoles scored the first try of the match in the 12th minute when he broke from a scrum right on the Wallabies line, with the No.8 strolling down the blindside to score a very soft try, although there was a hint of obstruction in it.
It was the only try of the first half with the rest of the points for the French coming from man of the match Michalak, who slotted two penalty goals, a conversion and a drop goal to make it 16-6 at halftime with Australia’s only points coming from two penalty goals to Mike Harris.
France continued where they left off in the first half by punching holes in the Australian line.
They scored their second try of the night in the 54th minute through winger Wesley Fofana who finished a near 50 metre effort.
The try came from a counter attack after Kurtley Beale failed to find touch with a kick and the ball was shifted to Michalak who stepped the Australian No.10 before finding Fofana who did the rest to score the converted try to make it 23-6.
France were awarded a penalty try in the 63rd minute after Australia collapsed a scrum five metres out from their tryline.
Adam Ashley-Cooper was held up over the line in the dying minutes as the Wallabies failed to score a try for the second successive Test.
Neuen
Roar Rookie
Dunno if Australia really can be disappointed or not because they experienced just what every International side experience now and again. A French team that is in the mood and brought their heads with them to the game. No side can beat them when come to a game like that. Playing with fire and determination. I am glad you guys got them first and they got that out their system. They have the knack to turn from completely awesome to completely rubbish within a week and when things do not go their way in the first 30 to 40 minutes in a game they seem lose it.
mark
Guest
sharon he won a pile of super rugby championships at the crusaders.
sharon
Guest
Deans does not have the ability to be a Kiwi coach. he has no leadership skills.
Doug
Guest
Don't really think u can dump all the blame on Robbies head. The fact is Aussie just don't have the player depth at the moment. He can only work with the players available to him. Also the fact that there are too many Super 15 franchises in the country for the amount of players is harming the Aussie game
Gaulois
Guest
Hye Yvette (french name), For me the match was SUPER !!! ;)
Ben.S
Roar Guru
Who will be Dad's Army?
AJH
Guest
Sheik, on that performance I am expecting the WBs losing 3 out of 4 and be ranked 5th after the Spring tour. With a bit of luck the ARU will have no option but to send Deans packing - post 2010 - he has been a disaster. I think Link will stand up and fans can once again be confident with the Wallabies. For tahs fans expect big loafing forwards with low work rate to get the chop. The backs will once again have greater attacking options and the wallabies will once again be risk takers and have the confidence to back themselves. Here's hoping.
Yvette De Wee
Guest
Couldn't believe what I saw on Saturday. Say what you want about Quade Cooper, he was surely missed never mind not having Digby Ioane there to support the dying back line. Oh my word that was not a good game to watch......
mark
Guest
nonsense. If Deans was coaching NZ do you think they wouldn't be world champs etc. of course they would. blaming our lack of depth on the national coach is a simplistic response to a complicated issue. ie we can not afford to lose our only truly world class players in defence and attack ie pocock and genia, without it hurting the side badly.
bob
Guest
Good call Johnson. I think it fair to say the French played really well. I think to diminish their glory by complaining about how we played is whinging best left to the poms. outplayed by a better team on the day. Thats the end of it. Chin up boys, Poms next week, all good...
peterlala
Guest
By "vitriolic rantings" I assume you mean fair points.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Yes, we noticed the part where we got mauled.
sittingbison
Guest
what about his run just on half time from deep? Best wobblies play of the day When he waved his arms, it was a 5/2 overlap. Beale went the other way to a stationary forward who dropped it. Summed up the match.
sittingbison
Guest
the problem Ra is that since the 2010 Paris win, Deans has bottled it and lost his nerve. From the moment he selected McCabe at 12 for his defence, it has been an unmitigated disaster
Hurl
Guest
Shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic comes to mind
allblackfan
Guest
Ra, McKenzie will be more than glad! Remember, the coaching application timeframe for the Wallabies position had already closed when Deans applied for the WB job. The fact that JON allowed the appointment to be put on hold pending the NZRU coaching sleection spell out in no uncertain terms that the Wallabies coaching application process was a joke! To this day I maintain it was unfair therefore illegal.
undertheposts
Guest
Actually I never saw it until about the 5th replay when the pommy commentator on Ch 10 pointed out that the ball was tucked under AAC's left arm. Yes, I could make it out, even though it was dark in there. And the ball was forced down on the other side of Parra's arm. Goggles not needed. Just knowing where the ball was.
Dasher
Roar Guru
I agree. I thought it was the job of ALL three loose forwards to be pilferers (to different extents) but you couldn't really say that of players like Palu, Samo, Dennis and Higgers. Jake Schatz is an example of a ball-stealing non-openside flanker. I hope he gets a look-in sometime soon. Hooper is pretty good at pilfering, but Gill is even better. Speaking with Kiwi rugby fans during the Super Rugby season and they said their teams feared Gill a lot more than Hooper, as far as ball security goes.
sharon
Guest
No you are not Kiwis but you are a world class nation of union players. It is not good enough to have a team playing like they are.The mistakes they are making are simple and if the team wasnt changed around so much then some consistancy could occur. Robbie Deans does not have the right personality to drive and manage an Australian team. All teams have ebbs and flows and no one should ever expect a team to be number 1 all the time. There is no leadership or cohesion in this current team, you can have all the skill in the world but without cohesion you will continue the trend of losses.
soapit
Guest
i can only assume you are being still sarcastic with those points * the new laws that consist of calling set instead of engage? are you seriously blaming our scrum efforts on not being practiced at that? * so you feel that there are only about 10 players in australia who are capable of executing plays that involve more than one pass, and once they're injured the only option left is to do one out hit ups? * 6 nations was more than six months ago. you think this allows them more cohesion with each other than the team having just completed a series of tests. not too mention all the changes from then for the french these are not serious arguments