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Le Bleus pick apart Wallabies
Source: Agencies |
November 12, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
FRANCE gave European rugby a massive fillip in the opening round of autumn internationals on Saturday, outplaying Australia in a 33-6 hammering as England romped past Fiji to show it could also trouble the southern hemisphere powers this month.
It wasn't all doom and gloom for the southern big guns, however, as South Africa overcame a sluggish first-half display against Ireland to emerge 16-12 winners in Dublin.
Argentina used the experience garnered from its inaugural Rugby Championship campaign to brush aside Six Nations champion Wales 26-12 in Cardiff, but it will be the French who will be wearing the widest smiles after recording their biggest win over the Wallabies in 36 years.
With mercurial flyhalf Frederic Michalak having one of his better days, France exacted revenge for its embarrassing 16-59 loss to Australia in Paris in 2010 by dominating the set pieces and keeping the feeble tourists scoreless for the final hour.
Louis Picamoles and Wesley Fofana scored tries before Australia's weak scrum suffered the ignominy of conceding a penalty try late on, compounding the second-ranked team's woes.
Crucially, the result will lift Les Bleus into the top four in the International Rugby Board rankings, above England despite its 54-12 demolition of Fiji at Twickenham where Charlie Sharples and Manu Tuilagi grabbed a brace of tries. Whoever is ranked in that top four at the end of the autumn tests will be top seeds for the pool draw for the World Cup, which is made on December 3.
It wasn't all doom and gloom for the southern big guns, however, as South Africa overcame a sluggish first-half display against Ireland to emerge 16-12 winners in Dublin.
Argentina used the experience garnered from its inaugural Rugby Championship campaign to brush aside Six Nations champion Wales 26-12 in Cardiff, but it will be the French who will be wearing the widest smiles after recording their biggest win over the Wallabies in 36 years.
With mercurial flyhalf Frederic Michalak having one of his better days, France exacted revenge for its embarrassing 16-59 loss to Australia in Paris in 2010 by dominating the set pieces and keeping the feeble tourists scoreless for the final hour.
Louis Picamoles and Wesley Fofana scored tries before Australia's weak scrum suffered the ignominy of conceding a penalty try late on, compounding the second-ranked team's woes.
Crucially, the result will lift Les Bleus into the top four in the International Rugby Board rankings, above England despite its 54-12 demolition of Fiji at Twickenham where Charlie Sharples and Manu Tuilagi grabbed a brace of tries. Whoever is ranked in that top four at the end of the autumn tests will be top seeds for the pool draw for the World Cup, which is made on December 3.
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