French one step away from Grand Slam
Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:22
Hand-off: French wing Marc Andreu and Italian No.8 Alessandro Zanni
France are just one step away from their first Six Nations Grand Slam in six years, after they demolished the Italians 46-20 at Stade de France, Paris, on Sunday.
France now face England in Paris next week, having virtually sealed the Six Nations title and looking for their fifth straight win of the season to seal the Slam.
What a difference an attitude makes!
From the start the French decided to reinvent French flair and it was wonderful. Gone were the bashers and in came the men with skills and speed and direction.
And when the Italians got with the programme, they, too, were exciting.
It was a try fest at the great Stade de France in Paris's northern suburbs - eight in all split six to French flair and two to the Italian flair. Six to the French - that is twice the number scored by Ireland, England and Scotland put together.
It was not that the Italians did not try. They fought nobly from start to finish. They tackled with determination, competed for the ball in tackle, scrum and line-outs. They were just outfinessed. Every French try was a gem, as were both Italian tries - six gems to two gems.
Italy started the game in the same method they had used against Ireland, England and Scotland. France ignored it and did their own thing to warm the hearts in cold Paris - especially the hearts of the French captains gathered to celebrate the century of France's participation in the International Championship, which is now called the Six Nations.
Italy has always been good a set pieces but in the first half their line-outs were poor. They lost four of ten on their own throw. But that really was a silly detail. What mattered was how the ball was used.
France came close to scoring the quickest try of the Six Nations when Morgan Parra went down the blindside. They would have scored but Thierry Dusautoir hung on too long.
But they did not have to wait long for their first try. From a tackle/truck Parra sold Tito Tebaldi a dummy and skated inside him and off down the field. Tackled by Andrea Masi he got the ball to galloping Imanol Harinordoquy and the tall No.8 scored under the posts. 7-0 after 5 minutes.
When Marco Bortolami, who was penalised four times in the match, played a man without the ball, Parra goaled. 10-0.
At this stage it was all France. Italy used a rush defence with an outside man charging up unsettlingly. But unlike Italy's other three opponents, France coped with it.
With Gonzalo Garcia, Italy's most penetrative back, in the sin bin for a late tackle., Italy attacked down the left where Mirco Bergamasco chipping into the French 22. Clément Poitrenaud marked. He did not kick it out as the other three teams would have done. Instead he raced straight at the Italians. The match was France's property at this stage.
France had a five-metre line-out and formed a maul. Initially the Italians repelled it well but France drove again but were guilty of obstruction., At the subsequent line-out Leonardo Ghiraldini over threw the ball and a long pass from François Trinh-Duc saw David Marty cutting through for his first try. 17 -0 after 17 minutes.
Luke McLean, who many times kicked for the sake of something to do, kicked one downfield and Poitrenaud again ran the ball straight back at Italy. Harinordoquy was off on a long run before giving to Marty who scored in the right corner. 22-0 after 25 minutes.
Garcia came back and had a second break. Then on 30 minutes the Italians made a significant change. Tebaldi, who was battling to get the ball away was taken off and on came Pablo Canavosio from Córdoba in Argentina with more than 20 caps for Italy including some as a wing, the man who scored the try that famously beat Scotland in Rome this year. After that Italy did not have a problem getting the ball moving.
France were close to scoring when Poitrenaud grubber into the Italian in-goal but Masi saved. Instead it was the Italians who scored. Dusautoir was offside and Mirco Bergamasco goaled. 22-3, which was the half-time score.
Italy started the second half awestruck. and it was not till the last 10 minutes or so that that changed.
Parra kicked a penalty when Bortolami was offside and then Mirco kicked one when Marty was offside at a kick. Poitrenaud broke and big Julian Bonnaire was close. Canavosio chipped and Bonnaire saved and then came a splendid try.
Playing just his second match for France, diminutive Marc Andreu recalled the great Christophe Dominici when he came off his right wing as France went left from a scrum on the right and sliced joyfully through the Italian defence, past Garcia to score. It was a delightful moment, which may just mean that Marc Lièvremont may start believing that size is not all. 32-6 after 51 minutes.
In fact France got their wings involved a
great deal. Andreu, running happily about with all the enthusiasm of young boy at a birthday party, did again what he had done when he scored. Off his wing he skated through a gap and then gave to big Yannick Jauzion who galloped away from defenders till, tackled, he reached out a long arm and scored. 39-6.
Italy had phases, starting five metres from the French line but France kept forcing them back, further and further from their line and then big wing Julien Malzieu burst ahead before giving to new man Alexandre Lapandry and the 20-year-old made it to the line .46-6. Italy were being humiliated.
As Canavosio's introduction in the side had a good effect, so did the arrival of the 23-year-old, Italy born flank with the English name, Paul Derbyshire.
Canavosio gave to Australian Craig Gower who did well in a gummed up situation and suddenly Alessandro Zanni was racing away. He gave to Derbyshire who gave to another substitute, South African lock Carlo Del Fava and the big man, capped over 40 times for Italy, ploughed on and over for his first international try. 46-13 after 69 minutes.
From the kick-off Derbyshire started running from deep in Italian territory. Zanni and Masi joined in the sudden resurgence of the Italian spirit. From a scrum to Italy, Canavosio broke on the right - past Dusautoir, Harinordoquy, Dimitri Yachvili and Alix Allison to score a splendid try. 46-20.
Stung, France came back and were battering at the Italian line but again Italy repelled them. They did not pass. One wonders if they would have showed such spirit and determination if they had not scored the two tries.
Man of the Match; Enthusiastic Marc Andreu and lively Morgan Parra are certainly candidates but nobody did as much to produce this renaissance of French flair than our choice - Clément Poitrenaud.
Moment of the Match: There were lots of special moments but for the sheer joy of it reaffirming the place of small men in rugby, that cut-through to score by Marc Andreu.
Villain of the Match: Nobody.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Harinordoquy, Marty 2, Andreu, Jauzion, Lapandry
Cons: Parra 5
Pens: Parra 2
For Italy:
Tries: Del Fava, Canavosio
Cons: Mirco Bergamasco 2
Pens: Mirco Bergamasco 2
Yellow card: Gonzalo Garcia (Italy, 15th min - foul play, late shoulder charge)
Teams
France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Marc Andreu, 13 David Marty, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5
Julien Pierre, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Mathieu Bastareaud, 22 Julien Malzieu
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain) 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Kaine Robertson.
Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
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