World Cup finalists France kicked off their 2012 RBS 6 Nations campaign with a 30-12 victory over Italy at the Stade de France on Saturday, but it was not all that easy.
Aurelien Rougerie and man-of-the-match Julien Malzieu bagged first half tries for Les Bleus, with Vincent Clerc and debutant Wesley Fofana going over later on. However, Italy had been more than a match for their hosts for much of the afternoon.
Italy started in confident fashion but a drop goal effort from Burton was wasted, allowing Dimitri Yachvili to kick over a penalty and put the French 3-0 up. Kris Burton’s next drop goal effort was better placed, however, and Jacques Brunel’s side kept things level until the 20-minute mark.
However, last year’s World Cup runners-up took a leap ahead soon after when their Webb Ellis final star Rougerie crossed the line. They took advantage of a collapsed scrum as Louis Picamoles, Pascal Pape and William Servat were involved before centre Rougerie smashed through the middle to over. Yachvili added the extras for 10-3.
Italy, who had been tight and composed prior to then, were aggrieved to be behind, but Burton got them back within four with a penalty. However, they were further adrift by the time the half-time whistle was sounded with Malzieu the second French player to cross the Italian line.
Again the visiting scrum could not match the guile of their play elsewhere, allowing Picamoles to run free with the ball before releasing wing Malzieu. He held off several challenges before going over, though Yachvili was off target with the conversion attempt. That meant that Phillipe Saint-Andre’s men led by 15-6 at the break.
Burton missed a penalty early in the second half, but scored a subsequent effort from right in front of the posts after careless play by Rougerie at the ruck. Yachvili then followed suit with a miss and a score from two set-pieces as France went 18-9 clear.
The lead was extended to 16 points when Francois Trinh-Duc powered past several challenges and got the ball to Clerc with his knee. He escaped to go level with his coach Saint-Andre on 32 international tries.
Treviso’s Tobias Botes, on his Italy debut, curled over a lovely penalty from the right but the Azzurri, by now weary from having gained so little from such a game effort, were beginning to look like a side ready to concede defeat.
Things got worse for them when Quintin Geldenhuys was sin-binned after a maul collapsed. France capitalised on having an extra man to bag their fourth try, with Clermont Auvergne’s Fofana celebrating an impressive French bow on the back of a surge of French attacks.
Morgan Parra missed the final conversion but France saw out the remainder with ease. They have plenty of questions left to answer, and plenty of tougher games to come, but Saint-Andre will be reasonably pleased after the first half hour indicated that it might not have been a winning start.