France 25 Italy 13FRANCE DULY defeated Italy in Paris yesterday, as they have in all their eight previous Six Nations encounters, but Warren Gatland's Wales will not be quaking in their boots at the prospect of the French visit to the Millennium Stadium this coming weekend.
France can prevent a Welsh Grand Slam but they were not able to pile on the points against an Italian side whose own ambition now is to prevent a whitewash when they meet Scotland in their final game in Rome on Saturday.
France move into second place in the table but need a convincing win in Wales as their points differential is 38 worse than that of the tournament leaders. They will certainly have to play better than this to hold on to their title.
Marc Lièvremont's team is as changeable as the Paris weather. Yesterday morning the city woke to driving rain but most of this game was played in sunshine. By the final whistle, though, France had become becalmed. They scored three good tries but not until Aurélien Rougerie crossed the line 13 minutes from the end was the result conclusive.
France's coach has given out caps as if they were bonbons this season, so much so that his captain Lionel Nallet is the only player to have started their four games.
By yesterday, Lièvremont had used 37 players in this Six Nations, and after the game he hinted more changes were on the way this week.
France shook off the hangover that might have lingered from their defeat at home by England and Brian Ashton would certainly like to be blessed with the depth of talent Lièvremont has at his disposal. Anthony Floch, for example, seamlessly stepped into the fullback role and was the pick of the French backs. He scored the first try, latching on to an inside pass from Julien Malzieu after the outhalf François Trinh-Duc had put a well judged kick into the arms of the strapping wing.
But France could never dominate against a pack in which the returning Marco Bortolami and fellow lock Carlo Del Fava strove tirelessly. Italy even had a chance to take the lead when hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini found room on the left but his inside pass was spilled by centre Gonzalo Canale.
After the break France's young number eight Louis Picamolesdrove upfield and set up a ruck and scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili chipped over the Italian defence for Yannick Jauzion to plunder a second try.
Yachvili missed with the conversion attempt, and within five minutes Italy were back in the game. From a lineout their forwards drove towards the line and Martin Castrogiovanni emerged from a pile of bodies to claim the try. He then left the field clutching an ice pack to his left shoulder and is doubtful to face Scotland in Rome.
France then went in search of a knock-out punch, Floch appearing to have created a try for Rougerie only for the video referee to judge that Mirco Bergamasco had held the wing up over the line.
Rougerie needed only a further three minutes, though, before he scored a legitimate try. From a scrum Trinh-Duc and the replacement Damian Traille engineered an opening for Rougerie to break through a flagging defence.
FRANCE:A Floch; Rougerie, Y David, Y Jauzion, J Malzieu; F Trinh-Duc, D Yachvili; F Barcella, D Szarzewski, N Mas; L Nallet, J Thion; I Diarra, F Ouedraogo, L Picamoles. Replacements:Traille for David (60 mins); JB Poux for Mas (62 mins); G Guirado for Szarzewski (63 mins); J Tomas for Yachvili (71 mins); A Mela for Thion (68); J Bonnaire for Diarra (50). Not used:V Clerc.
ITALY:A Marcato; K Robertson, G Canale, M Bergamasco, E Galon; A Masi, S Picone; A Lo Cicero, L Ghiraldini, M Castrogiovanni; CA del Fava, M Bortolami; J Sole, A Zanni, S Parisse. Replacements: EPatrizio for Canale (75), P Travagli for Picone (69), S Perugini for Lo Cicero (56), F Ongaro for Ghiraldini (56), C Nieto for Castrogiovanni (59). Not used:J Erasmus, A Sgarbi.
Referee: A Lewis(Ireland).
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