Italy's Sergio Parisse carried well, but he could not lead his side to back-to back victories over France in the Six Nations
Momentum went in Italy’s favour in the early stages; the first penalty went to the Azzurri after referee Nigel Owens penalised Nicolas Mas for not binding properly. Kristopher Burton kicked to the corner and the Italian set up a few phases of possession. Burton attempted a drop-goal, but it was charged down by a fast French blitz defence.
Italy ran through some good phases of possession and a clever kick to corner from Burton nearly gave Julien Malzieu serious cause for concern.
However, the Clermont winger managed to recover from the awkward bounce of the ball and stormed up the left-wing to the half-way line. Italy went offside after the ruck and the ever reliable Dimitri Yachvilli smashed over the long penalty.
Once again, Burton kicked intelligently and then patient build-up play with the forwards led to Burton’s 40 metre drop-goal, he made the distance with ease. France 3 Italy 3
France ran a few phases and then Clermont’s Aurelien Rougerie delayed his run to perfection and cantered in past two defenders. Yachvilli added conversion to give France a 10-3 lead against the run of play.
Pascal Pape was penalised for not rolling away which gave Burton another attempt at goal. The fly-half was on target with the shot at goal. This closed the gap to four points after thirty minutes play.
France dominated a scrum in their own half and Louis Picamoles carried strongly off the back and Malzieu was put away down the left-wing. Malzieu handed off several players and forced his way to the line. Yachvilli couldn’t quite knock over the conversion from a tight angle. The try made the score 15-6 just before half-time.
Just before half-time, Italy could not take advantage from a line-out after a penalty because Sergio Parisse infringed during the set-piece.
The 1st half closed with some confusion and some poor decisions form both sides, but Italy could be proud of their performance. Les Bleus showed their predatory instinct with two tries from two chances which helped them to a 15-6 lead at the break.
Second Half
Francois Trinh-Duc made an error with the kick-off which gave Italy a scrum on half-way. Italy forced a penalty; however, Burton did not quite have the distance to punish Trinh-Duc’s error.
Rougerie played the ball in the middle of a ruck and gave Nigel Owens no choice but to penalise the centre. Treviso’s Burton made no mistake with the attempt from straight in front of the posts which closed the gap to just six points France 15 Italy 9
Strong carries from Picamoles and Malzieu took France in to the Italian half and Owens penalised Italy at the breakdown. Yachvilli just pushed the attempt at goal to the left of the uprights.
Minutes later, Yachvilli was given another shot at goal from just outside of the Italian 22. He made no mistake with the shorter kick and extended France’s lead back to nine points, France 18 Italy 9
France made easy work of a turnover as Francois Trinh-Duc chipped ahead of Martin Castrogiovanni and put in an impressive improvised kick ahead with the outside of his right foot. Rougerie used his knee and knocked the ball ahead again straight in to the grateful hands of Vincent Clerc who strolled over under the posts. Yachvilli added another simple kick to put his side in to a commanding lead, France 25 Italy 9
A trio of French forwards lazily retreated and were caught offside by Owens. Italian substitute Tobias Botes took advantage of the opportunity to kick for goal and opened his scoring account for Italy, France 25 Italy 12
With twenty minutes left, France showed the strength of their bench as they brought on Jean-Baptiste Poux and Morgan Parra to strengthen up the scrum and secure the win with the boot.
A strong driving maul put severe pressure on the Italians and Quintin Geldenhuys was shown a yellow card by Owens. Debutant Fofana managed to find his way to the try-line without much attention from Italian defenders. Parra did not add the extras, but the French held a convincing lead, France 30 Italy 12
Italy looked to finish with a flourish, a cross-kick out to Parisse stretched the French defence, but a knock-on a few phases later prevented the Italians from earning a consolation try. A few phases later Parra kicked the ball in to the stands to end the game.
The French absorbed plenty of Italian pressure, but ultimately had too much power and quality out wide for the Azzurri.
Full time: France 30 Italy 12. Man of the Match: Julien Malzieu, the winger always looked threatening and took his chance well.
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