Merciless France hit Italy for eleven tries in Rome

Guinness Six Nations

Italy 24-73 France

Italy felt the full force of a French backlash as Antoine Dupont orchestrated a 73-24 Guinness Six Nations victory in Rome.

France, smarting from their late defeat to England in round two, knew there would be a distinctly physical edge in Rome, and the Azzurri shots going in during early French forays to their 22 were thunderous.

Fullback Tommaso Allan. the leading points-scorer in this year’s Championship, missed what was for him a relatively straightforward penalty kick at goal to register the first points of the match in the eighth minute.

Such is the topsy-turvy nature of this game that no sooner had Allan’s shot drifted wide, than France appeared to have scored a ravishing length-of-the-field try by Théo Attissogbé – only for the TMO to deny it for a forward pass from fly-half Thomas Ramos.

And how did Italy respond? With an equally sensational run: this one from last year’s Guinness Player of the Championship, centre Tommaso Menoncello, cutting the French defence to shreds and steaming in for a try. Allan converted this one: 7-0.

France got what they were after when second row Mickael Guillard broke through some questionable Italian defence before reaching out for his team’s first try. Ramos converted to level the scores.

As the end of the first quarter drew near, France were penalised for a tackle off the ball. Allan had a similar shot at goal to the first that he’d missed, but was good for it this time, edging Italy ahead 10-7.

Les Bleus won their lineout on the home 5m line, and a huge driving maul ensued. French momentum drove Italy back and down, where over the line – and under a pile of bodies – Guillard was adjudged to have scored. Ramos added the extras: 10-14 with a little over 20 minutes on the clock.

France were on a roll now, and compounding things for the Azzurri, their drift defence was deftly unlocked as an offload from fullback Leo Barre allowed wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey space to sprint down the right. He found captain Antoine Dupont on the inside for the scrum-half to score, and Ramos to convert: 10-21.

The scoreboard was on fire as much as either team’s attack, because Italy responded straight away in another great example of off-the-cuff rugby. The explosive Ange Capuozzo set things in motion with a fine break, before second row Federico Ruzza, deep in French territory, offloaded to centre Juan Ignacio Brex to cross the whitewash. Allan converted: 17-21.

You simply weren’t allowed to catch your breath here in Rome, because France then went and scored their fourth, bonus-point try shortly afterwards, when Paul Boudehent powered over near the corner. Ramos, of course, had the skill to convert from out wide: 17-28.

Barre scored his second try with a minute left in the first half, Dupont buying himself some time by cutting back inside to commit Tommaso Allan before offloading to the oncoming fullback to pivot out of a tackle and burst through. A flawless afternoon with the boot for Ramos continued: 17-35.

An astonishing seven tries in total were scored in the first half. Surely that rate couldn’t continue in the second 40.

Well, Les Bleus indicated that it could do just that when number eight Grégory Alldritt scored off the back of a lineout in the 44th minute. And yes, Ramos added the extras: 17-42.

France then introduced their version of the Bomb Squad, including a whole new pack. It certainly kept their momentum going, although it was their two starting wings who combined for the next score: Attissogbé stretching the Italians out on the right wing, then shifting an underarm ball to the unmarked Bielle-Biarrey on an arcing line.

The metronomic Ramos showed signs of being human when his attempt at a conversion was wide: 17-47.

Dupont was never far from the action, and with France causing mayhem in the middle of the pitch, he soon broke away from the maelstrom and ran in for his brace. He made life easier for his half-back partner by running it in under the posts: 17-54.

Amidst all the improvisation, Italy were able to finally break through with a set-piece move off a scrum in the French 22 after an hour, Garbisi delivering a show-and-go to sneak over the line for the Azzurri’s third try. He did well to convert also: 24-54.

France’s next try had everything, like something from a rugby computer game: side-to-side, interlinking passes, grubber kick, offload. By the end of it, Louis Bielle-Biarrey had touched down and France had registered their highest ever score in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations: 24-61.

The try was Bielle-Biarrey’s sixth in six consecutive Tests for France, and the Bordeaux youngster has now scored 15 in 17 Test appeances. A star is well and truly born.

Not to be outdone on the scoresheet in Rome, Attissogbé made light work of two Italian defenders out wide in the home 22 to score one for himself with a few minutes left to go. New scrum-half Maxime Lucu – Dupont was now at fly-half – converted: 24-68.

If a punctuation mark was needed for this incredible French performance, then it was dotted down by centre Pierre-Louis Barassi with a straightforward try out on the left.

On this form, it is hard to imagine any team being able to live with Fabien Galthié’s team. Their fans might wish they could reach such giddy heights more often, but considering today’s glut of tries, that would just be greedy.