Australia 26-42 France: Nations Championship rugby union international – reaction

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Key events

And it is the Azzurri up next for the Wallabies with Perth hosting Australia and Italy next Saturday.

France head to Tokyo to take on Japan.

Earlier today the All Blacks made it two from two at the start of this Nations Championship, defeating Italy 47-17 in Wellington.

The Wallabies can at least look to their discipline and set-piece as cause for enthusiasm. They won the penalty count 5-9, led turnovers 5-1, and won every lineout and scrum feed. They just couldn’t keep up with the exhilarating France attack when they ran the ball out of defence.

“We’re going to keep working, and we need to get results for you guys,” is Wilson’s sign-off to a full house in Brisbane.

“We’re learning that you need to play good for 80 minutes,” bemoans Harry Wilson. “We’re losing moments… it’s not good enough.”

The skipper is uncharacteristically downbeat. “We let the fans down, we let ourselves down in that second half… Talk is cheap.”

Romain Ntamack is named the player of the match. The honour could have gone to a stack of men in blue, not least Lucu and Jalibert.

“It’s a game of two halves” laments a dejected Brandon Paenga-Amosa. The reserve hooker played almost 80 minutes after Nasser’s early concussion, scored a try, and played a leading role in a thrilling opening half.

That’s four in a row for France against Australia. They were 21-12 down at half-time, with 14 of those Australian points scored when France were a man down. With a full compliment Les Bleus were irresistible, breaking the line and scoring at will.

Full-time: Australia 26-42 France

Ahead at half-time, the Wallabies were blown away after the interval and France secure a famous victory in Brisbane.

79 mins: Daugunu, Jorgensen, and Pietsch try to run the ball from their own try line and give the crowd something to cheer for 20m or so.

CONVERTED TRY! Australia 26-42 France (Williams, 77)

Australia aren’t giving up just yet though and kick to the left corner for a 5m lineout. A few phases later and Williams burrows his way through the mass of bodies and touches the ball on the whitewash.

76 mins: All these defeats carry their own scars, but this second half demolition will take some coaching to recover from.

75 mins: This will be six defeats in a row, and 19 losses from the past 27 matches for Australia.

TRY! Australia 21-42 France (Attissogbe, 72)

France just know no other way than to attack. From behind the scrum in centre field the ball goes through hands to the right with precision and Attissogbe finishes with ease. This has been a serious show of force since the interval.

71 mins: Campbell does well under the box kick and returns for a second effort. The Wallabies keep the ball tight on the left but there’s no go-forward and McDermott has to box kick. France belt the ball away at the first opportunity. What can Australia do with possession? Yikes! Wright hurls an ugly forward pass that wobbles awfully out of the hand. All the energy evaporates through the open aperture of Suncorp Stadium. The home fans endured a bruising State of Origin defeat on Wednesday and it is another rough night for Queenslanders.

70 mins: Tupou breaks the line and chugs his legs like the little engine that could! Is there support? Sua’ali’i! But the pass isn’t great and the centre is scragged 10m short. Then Wilson is penalised at the breakdown! Was that Australia’s last chance to get points on the board with enough time to mount a comeback?

69 mins: That was a huge passage of play, typical of a breathless night of footy.

68 mins: France secure their scrum feed on the right and head towards halfway infield. They’re happy to slow things down, box kick, and invite an aerial melee in Australia’s half. The Wallabies take possession and go through a dozen or so hands to shovel the ball out to Pietsch on the right. Then it’s back through a dozen more on it’s way to the left, but there’s no penetration. That is until Ikitau stretches an arm free for the offload and Wilson can follow up. Now there’s some space to find Pietsch on the right and McDermott and Jorgensen can get to work on the blindside 10m out.

Tupou tries to bunt his way forward but there are blue jerseys all over him. Play grinds to a halt, Champion de Crespigny, spills in contact, and France rebound at lightning speed, turn defence into attack and kick to Australia’s 22.

65 misn: Finally the Wallabies get some phase play in attacking territory. It’s 15 v 15 again as Williams crosses the gainline near the 22. Wilson is busy, but as he tries to work with Tupou France steal and despite Jalibert slipping with his clearing kick play is calld back for a penalty advantage. Nothing has gone Australia’s way this half.

Penalty! Australia 21-37 France (Lucu, 63)

Lucu cannot miss from in front of the posts and France extend their lead to 16 points. This is turning into a nightmare for Australia.

63 mins: Australia get busy in midfield but there’s an awful obstruction penalty with the dynamic Campbell running at speed – directly behind Slipper – and Wallaby heads drop in resignation.

62 mins: Australia are delighted to hear the referee’s whistle for a scrum penalty. They can finally clear their 22 and regroup near halfway.

61 mins: France drive through slow methodical phase play from a lineout on the right. Then Jalibert enters the line, executes an impudent one-two with Attissogbe and the latter wriggles his way over for another try! But was there a forward pass? The referee isn’t sure, so this will be reviewed. It looks back out of Jalibert’s hands, but Attissogbe is ahead of the ball on reception. Forward pass is the call by the TMO! Huge let-off for Australia after more breathtaking handling from the French.

59 mins: France are not finished. They have Australia a man down and rattled. Jalibert kicks to the isolated Pietsch and he is swarmed on by blue jerseys inside his 22. The hurried clearing kick invites another assault.

57 mins: That first-half lead seems a lifetime ago for a disconsolate Joe Schmidt.

CONVERTED TRY! Australia 21-34 France (Verhaeghe, 56)

Can Australia keep hold of the contest while they’re a man down? France win lineout ball on the right and Lucu box kicks. Australia kick back but France run out of defence, over halfway with Jalibert, Grandidier-Nkanang takes over and momentum builds. From the left wing suddenly France are inside 22 on the right. There’s a ruck on the try line! France release it under the posts – surely they score – and Verhaeghe muscles his way over under the crossbar! That was a 70m counterattack try! Brilliant dynamic attacking rugby at its best, finished by old fashioned muscle.

Lucu cannot miss from under the dot.

55 mins: Turns out 15v14 has its advantages.

TRY! Australia 21-27 (Ntamack, 54)

France secure the lineout on the left. Lamothe is busy in tight, Staniforth is strong, and the blue wave is too strong for the undermanned Australian defence and Ntamack steals around the short side, shows and goes to beat Slipper, has too much pace for Lonergan, and a poor Wallaby line is breached easily. France retake the lead!

Lucu curls over two more points from the touchline.

52 mins: Both teams are going through their interchanges now with this match played at breakneck speed.

Yellow Card! (Wright, 51)

Lucu can’t add the touchline conversion but France still gain an advantage as Wright is sent to the bin for not rolling away on the line as Moefana seemed destined to score.

Massive ten minutes coming up for the Wallabies.

TRY! Australia 21-20 France (Grandidier-Nkanang, 49)

France come again, streaming over halfway with a penalty advantage. Moefana is unstoppable for 30m, can he score? No, Wright holds him up! But Lucu is quick to the breakdown, Jalibert enters the line, spots the overlap on the left, kicks behind and Grandidier-Nkanang has the simple task of gathering the bouncing ball and flopping over.

47 mins: France drive about 25m on an astonishing maul down the right following the kick-off. The ball is sent free and blue jerseys stream down the left. Jalibert is quicksilver, Grandidier-Nkanang has room to gallop – but Wright brings him down with a vital tackle! France regroup and head from left to right. Surely they score. They keep the ball moving, put play slows, Wright gets into position over the ball at the breakdown, and just inches from the line the Wallabies win the penalty! Huge missed opportunity for France.

Penalty! Australia 21-15 France (Lucu, 46)

Lucu accepts the long penalty opportunity, slotting the goal from 45m out.

46 mins: I spoke too soon. About three trillion phases earlier Jorgensen lifted Attissogbe off his feet in the tackle and the TMO calls play back to the infringement. It was foul play, for sure, but such a long way behind play for the off-field official to intervene.

45 mins: France try once more, but there’s no go-forward and play is slow and lateral. Australia surge up as one and force the knock-on on the ground. That was excellent coordinated, disciplined line defence.

44 mins: France try again on halfway but McReight is there again! What a performance this is turning into from the two-try No 7.

43 mins: Australia pressurise the French scrum but Lucu gets his pass away in time and the ball is sent from left to right at speed – but at the breakdown McReight steals another strip cold! The Wallabies have dominated that aspect of the game, jackaling for four superb turnovers now.

42 mins: France take the restart, settle play down, then Lucu belts a superb long kick that almost bobbles into a 50-22. The clearing kick is accepted and blue jerseys run over halfway. Phases drift to the left and as momentum stalls there’s a knock-on call against Australia.

The teams are back out for the second half. Can Australia finish the job?

France looked the better side in the early exchanges but suffered a 14-point swing when Meafou was rightly sent to the sin bin.

That was a frenetic, chaotic half of rugby, and the unstructured nature suited Australia and their eagerness to take the game on at every opportunity. But for all the broken field footy it was three 50-22 kicks and some textbook lineout play that has given the Wallabies the advantage.

Half-time: Australia 21-12 France

A breathless end-to-end half comes to a close with the Wallabies on top and in sight of a morale boosting victory.

An effervescent Australia lead at the break.

40 mins: The lineout is secure but the maul is slow. Australia’s pack does superbly to hold things up – until a blue jersey shears off to the right, quickly followed by the referee’s whistle and a penalty to Australia against Mauvaka.

40 mins: Instead of kicking the simple three points, France dab to the left corner.

39 mins: This is breathless and unstructured broken field footy and it is absolutely captivating. Eventually the fun is brought to an end with a France kick for goal 30m out just to the left of the posts.

37 mins: Australia get bogged down with some slow phases in midfield and Ikitau is fortunate not to be pinged for a knock-on following a tricky pass form Lonergan. Eventually the Wallabies kick possession away and invite France – now back to XV – to have a go.

What on earth is happening out there!? France almost get in around the outside on the right, then Australia blitz at speed on the counter with Sua’ali’i offloading majestically. The chip-and-chase is blocked off the boot so France come again, kicking over the top for a chase that is sure to end in a drop-out, only for McReight to emerge like an action movie hero through the flames of an explosion with the ball.

The attempted kick to touch fails so France come again!

35 mins: Australia have hammered home their numerical advantage, scoring 14 points with the extra player and transforming this contest.

CONVERTED TRY! Australia 21-12 France (McReight, 33)

Another superb set-piece try from the Wallabies. The lineout is textbook, Canham is strong, the maul forms around him at pace and with France down 145kg of grunt the gold juggernaut steamrolls over the line with irresistible force. McReight is again the beneficiary when the touchdown is required.

Lonergan continues his 100% record with his boot.