France beat Australia 42-26 in Brisbane on Saturday, turning a 21-12 halftime deficit into a comeback win after Romain Ntamack returned and helped drive a run of 30 consecutive points. The result gave France its first win over Australia in Brisbane since 1972 and handed Australia its sixth consecutive test loss. On the same day in Wellington, New Zealand beat Italy 47-17 and stayed unbeaten after two rounds of the Nations Championship.
Who Got Hit First
Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, making his debut, scored two tries for France, including the first try of the second half that sparked the decisive surge. Emmanuel Meafou opened the scoring in the third minute, then got a yellow card and spent 10 minutes on the sidelines. Australia used that one-man advantage to answer through Brandon Paenga-Amosa six minutes later, after a trick lineout move that started with Paenga-Amosa throwing to scrumhalf Ryan Lonergan at the front, taking the return pass and finishing the movement himself.
France led twice in the first half, but Australia kept finding space when the numbers tilted its way. In the 25th minute, Meafou was carded for making head-on-head contact with Australian backrower Rob Valentini, and that gave the Wallabies extra room to attack. Fraser McReight scored twice from close range and also saved a try just before halftime when he beat Matthieu Jalibert to the ball in the in-goal.
The Swing Back
Three tries in seven minutes flipped the match hard toward France, including two while Australian fullback Tom Wright was on the sidelines for a yellow card. The burst began in the 49th minute when France used numbers out wide and Jalibert kicked wide for Grandidier-Nkanang to score in the corner. Ntamack then took over in the 52nd, running down the short side from about 22 meters out, dummying, palming off a defender and crashing over in a tackle. Maxime Lucu converted, and the pressure kept building.
Florian Verhaeghe and Theo Attissogbe also scored before Australia managed a late consolation try. France now travels to Tokyo to play Japan next week. Australia heads to Perth, Western Australia, to take on Italy, which is coming off losses to Japan and New Zealand.
What the Scoreboard Hides
New Zealand’s 47-17 win over Italy in Wellington came with its own display of control. Will Jordan scored three tries and became New Zealand’s all-time leading try-scorer in tests with 50 in 56 matches. Josh Moorby came off the bench to make a live-wire debut on his birthday, and New Zealand piled up five tries and 33 points after halftime to turn the match comfortable.
Italy opened the scoring through center Tommaso Menoncello after an All Blacks turnover. New Zealand answered within five minutes with a try to lock Sam Darry, but Italy denied New Zealand space and possession and went to halftime with a 14-10 lead. Italy captain Michele Lamaro said, "I think we started really well and we were putting the under pressure," and added, "They were trying to compete around the breakdown and we were really strong in that area. They came back on the field after halftime with another gear and we couldn't hold them."
Moorby made his test debut in the 31st minute and played a major role in the three tries as New Zealand scored in the first 11 minutes of the second half to move ahead 33-10. Backrower Anton Segner came on at halftime for his debut and became the first player born in Germany to play for the All Blacks. His parents flew from Frankfurt to be present. Moorby broke off the left wing and combined with his Hurricanes teammate, scrumhalf Cam Roigard, to score two minutes after the restart. He later won an intercept and went close again before prop Ethan de Groot crashed over for a try in his 42nd test.
Jordan later outpaced the cover defense to set up his second try, which equaled the All Blacks record set by Doug Howlett. He then took the record alone with his third try in the 54th minute from Barrett's quick thinking at a tapped penalty. Jordan said, "I think back to when I was a kid practicing my chip and chase in the back yard. To think I'd be here today, it's hugely humbling," and added, "I guess as a winger on the end of the chain I've been part of some great teams over the last seven years."
Italy, which lost its opening Nations Championship match last week to Japan in Tokyo, played much of the last quarter with 14 men after a yellow card against Niccolo Cannone for an attempted head butt on Roigard was upgraded to a red. Even then, Italy scored its second try through Leonardo Marin in the 57th minute. New Zealand also finished with 14 men when flyhalf Ruben Love, who was shown a yellow card in the second minute of last week's test against France, was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the 71st minute.