France came back from a nine-point half-time deficit to beat Australia 42-26 in a pulsating Nations Championship clash in Brisbane on Saturday.
After losing by two points against New Zealand last week, the French roared back with four second-half tries to notch their first win over Australia in Brisbane since 1972. It was a familiar story for the Wallabies, who led Ireland last Saturday only to lose by two points.
They matched France in the first 40 minutes but faded badly in the second as the speed of the French attack proved overwhelming. “We were very happy going in at half-time. 21-12 up, we put ourselves in a great position there,” said Australia captain Harry Wilson.
“Then the big second half and we’re learning that you need to play a good 80 minutes. “We keep losing moments and (allowing) a team like France to put on 30 unanswered points, it’s not good enough.”
Played in front of a sellout crowd of 52,000 in perfect conditions, both sides looked to throw the ball around and attack with pace. “It’s awesome, we studied them all week and I think it was a challenge for us to come and play,” said France lock Emmanuel Meafou.
“Credit to the Wallabies. That was a tough first half. We knew they weren’t going to go away, but we got some good tries in the second half.
“We have a lot of depth in the team, and I think that’s one thing that the French do really well is kind of rotate their players and make sure everyone gets a run.
“And everyone who puts on the jersey is up for it.” The French opened the scoring in just the third minute when Meafou barged over after some sustained pressure.
Australia hit back when hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa crossed after a clever move at the front of the line-out. In the 18th minute, fly-half Romain Ntamack put a kick through for winger Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, who flew past Declan Meredith to score in the corner. Brisbane-born Meafou was shown a yellow card after a high tackle on Rob Valetini and outstanding flanker Fraser McReight took advantage to burrow over and Lonergan converted to make it 14-12.
McReight got his second when he crashed over on the back of a rolling maul to put the Wallabies up 21-12 at half-time.
Maxime Lucu landed a 46-metre penalty and France found themselves only 21-20 down after Grandidier-Nkanang scored his second.
They went ahead through Ntamack after Australia full-back Tom Wright was yellow-carded for a professional foul.
“Really proud of all the players,” said man-of-the-match Ntamack through an interpreter.
“It was a very tough first half, and we knew that it wasn’t going to be easy against the Wallabies.”
It became 34-21 when lock Florian Verhaeghe crashed over. Lucu landed another penalty and France sealed victory with a try by right wing Theo Attissogbe.
“Second half, we thought we needed to keep going, keep pushing, and it paid off,” added Ntamack.
“Really very happy about the second half.”
A late consolation by lock Jeremy Williams ensured Australia got a four-try bonus point.