France Shows World Cup Credentials With Last-Gasp Win Over Australia

We should have seen this coming.

France fixtures rarely are dull and tend to bear considerable dramatic turbulence that even the calmest athlete would struggle to cope with. Saturday was no different, as Les Bleus opened their Autumn Nations Series with a dramatic late win over Australia, thanks to a last-gasp Damian Penaud try.

The victory was neither wholly convincing, nor entirely iconic, but in international rugby, the currency is winning, and France is bathing in the riches of its recent success.

Not only did Penaud’s try further inculcate the credentials of the men in blue, it secured their record 11th consecutive victory, which had stood since the 1930s.

It’s nothing to get carried away with though. They tipped the test match by a mere point and looked vulnerable for stints of the game. In years gone by, a win would have been enough, but now the stakes are higher. 

We are 10 months from a World Cup in France and heading into the tournament the hosts arguably are one of the favorites to lift the title.

They are the second-ranked team in the world, having won the latest Six Nations title with a Grand Slam and will be expected to progress into the latter stages of the tournament. No longer are they the plucky outsiders who, on their day, can spoil the party for any contender. Now, they are contenders.

It has been a long time since the French have entered a World Cup with genuine hype encircling them. 

Of course, they were finalists in 2011 and were 80 minutes away from lifting the Webb Ellis Cup, only to be toppled by perhaps the greatest All Blacks side ever to be configured.

This time feels different. France feels different. Gone is the side of old that would bicker and bottle matches. 

Head coach Fabien Galthié is a major contributor to this reversal of fate. He has revolutionized the way in which the team operates, not only by minimizing the internal drama, but by instilling a tactical and emotional on-field poise, which means France now controls games without solely relying upon moments of magic at every turn.

And, they have a kicking game to fall back on. 

With Antoine Dupont at No. 9 and Romain Ntamack at 10, Les Bleus have a kicking arsenal that was expertly used during the latest Six Nations to pin teams back and dictate the location of play.

They have a physically imposing forward pack with more depth than Camille Chat’s neck, and when all else fails, there still are countless magicians in the backline who can create something out of nothing.

Penaud is the perfect case in point.

The Clermont winger has been a mainstay on the French national side for some time now, and he has been world-class for almost as long.  

What makes him so good is his juxtaposing characteristics. He is extremely physical, yet agile, and that was shown when he stepped one Wallaby defender, handed off another and then stormed over the whitewash to claim a dramatic 30-29 victory for France.

Initially, Australia was the first on the board, drawing three points courtesy of the boot of Bernard Foley. The veteran fly-half expertly landed the kick with only four minutes on the clock, but it was matched two minutes later by Thomas Ramos, who calmly slotted one of his own.

The kicking duel continued, as the duo converted a further penalty apiece, to keep the scores level with a quarter of an hour gone. At times, international rugby can be flooded by such goal-kicking, but in this instance, the tactical back-and-forth didn’t last.

The contest roared into life when Antoine Dupont delivered a cute dink from the base of a ruck, directing the ball deep into the Australia 22. Foley was on hand to collect the loose ball and managed to shift possession, before being caught by a nearby tackler.  

The Wallabies then hurried the ball wide to winger Tom Wright, who found space down the left flank. With Penaud in hot pursuit, the winger opted for his support runner and flung a pass, while stumbling, to his back-three partner Jock Campbell.

Sensing he didn’t have the space, nor the wheels, to finish off the move, the fullback guided the ball into the hands of Lalakai Foketi, who ran in the opening try untouched.

Opportunistic, exciting, clinical. In one phase, Australia had turned a bobbling ball in their own 22 into a try-scoring opportunity, replicating the exploits so often associated with their opponents.

For the remainder of the half, the hosts played in a tempered way, as Ramos kicked a further two penalties to keep them within touching distance of the men in gold.

Then, right before the break, Gael Fickou pounced on a loose ball and stabbed a kick toward the Australia line. Andrew Kellaway scrambled back to recover possession, but France met the ensuing breakdown with force, earning a turnover, and soon reaped the rewards, as Julien Marchand dotted down to give France a generous halftime lead.

Australia started the brighter of the two in the second period and claimed the spoils when Campbell darted between tacklers to score a try on his debut. 

Further penalties from Foley and Reece Hodge kept the Wallabies ahead, until replacement fly-half Mattieu Jalibert launched a miss-pass to Penaud, whose startling finish in the corner lit up the Stade de France and broke Australian hearts.  

That one hurts. We go again next week against ??#Wallabies @eToroAU #FRAvAUS pic.twitter.com/hTKZ0Wqp8N

— Wallabies (@wallabies) November 6, 2022

“It's pretty quiet in the changing room,” Australia head coach Dave Rennie said. “Our guys are gutted because they emptied the tanks tonight. We were one exit away from winning it. No one gave us a chance.”

Galthié was proud, but analytical of his team’s performance.

“The Australian team really challenged us and posed us difficulties, but we expected that,” Galthié said. “We could have carried the ball better, but with each game, we learn new things. There is always room for improvement.”

Written by Stefan Frost