Sydney: Australian fly-half Matt Giteau scored all the points as the Wallabies stretched their dominance over France to four consecutive victories with a convincing 22-6 win in their one-off rugby international here yesterday.
The Australians controlled the match with their unrelenting defence and discipline to pass their test with flying colours against the French, who beat New Zealand 27-22 a fortnight ago followed by a narrow 14-10 loss last week. Giteau scored the only try of the match and chipped in with five penalties and a conversion from all his kicks at goal as the Wallabies pulled away in the second half after leading 10-3 going into the break.
“It’s been a solid month for us and it’s good background for us and that was better than a solid performance,” Wallabies’ coach Robbie Deans said.
“There were elements there that we’ve been working on, our defence was obvious and it was a full team effort, everyone got into the game and added something.”
The Wallabies beat Les Bleus in all their three encounters last year and were never under threat as they build up to their Tri-Nations opener against the All Blacks in Auckland on July 18.
The French have only beaten Australia four times in 19 internationals in Australia, with the last triumph (28-19) in 1990.
France found it difficult to back up after their torrid schedule of back-to-back internationals against the All Blacks, while the Wallabies went into the match after comfortable wins over the Barbarians and Italy.
French coach Marc Lievremont reflected on an arduous 10-month season for his team, saying: “We are very disappointed about the end of our tour and it was a very good Australian team that showed us a real level.”
“They had a better start than us and everything we did wrong we paid for it. The Wallabies scored very quickly and we were very undisciplined.”
Yet despite the disparity on the scoreboard the Wallabies scored the only try of the match early in the first half and could not breach the French try-line for the remainder.
The Wallabies almost scored in the second minute when winger Drew Mitchell dived for the corner but the video referee ruled that he lost the ball over the try-line. - AFP |
