Following France’s 73-24 demolition of Italy in round three of the Six Nations, here are our five key takeaways from the Stadio Olimpico.
The top line
In a match that started with a celebration of the career of one of rugby’s greatest entertainers, Sergio Parisse, it was rather apt that both France and Italy treated a packed Stadio Olimpico to an absolute treat of sumptuous handling and wonderful attacking ambition.
The scoreline was brutal and certainly won’t reflect some of the excellence we saw from the Azzurri with ball-in-hand in the first half, but the simple metrics of 11 tries versus three frames a picture of wonderful handling from France as they put the woes of Twickenham in Round Two behind them.
The scores kept coming but, with player of the match Antoine Dupont and Leo Barre both grabbing a brace apiece, the French back three running riot in the back-field and all of Fabien Galthie’s marginal selections paying off, it was a white tidal wave that hit Italy and never stopped rolling in.
For all of the brilliance in attack that France displayed, it was sheer forward dominance that gave them the platform for their extravagances with ball-in-hand. With Thomas Ramos at 10, Les Bleus played in the Toulouse straight lines that are the hallmark of both club and country. It allowed Dupont to offer so much variety on either side of the collision that Italy were almost mesmerised by the performance of the French half-backs and, despite a really impressive first 25 minutes, they simply fell apart under mental pressure and physical fatigue as France recorded their biggest win in the Six Nations.
What was different?
The biggest difference in the way France played, and in turn, the way Italy defended, was the directness in Les Bleus’ attack.
At Twickenham in Round Two, England played a really canny game where they pillared rucks hard with key defenders on either side. Using a moderated push defence, they managed to get France running laterally and, as a result, into recycle situations down the tramlines, which really only allows one side to attack.
At their best, France are masters of short, fast one or two-man rucks down the centre of the pitch. From those situations, Dupont attacks both sides at a huge pace around the fringes. His ability to commit defenders to open holes off his pop passes is quite remarkable and we saw so many tries come as a result of the little maestro fixing two around the fringe defence, and getting his carrier through the 12 or 13 channel at pace.
In such a match of attacking hooliganism, spare a thought for France’s key forward leader Francois Cros, the architect of so many of those lightning recycle moments. The flanker might not grab the headlines like others, but the Toulouse man toiled away at the coalface, sweeping up errors and creating so much swift ball that he was a contender for player of the match himself, without getting near to making it onto the scorecard. He’d be forgiven for wondering why the French coaching team had picked on him for the sole 80-minute shift in the forwards when the rest of his starting scrummaging pals were sitting on the benches sipping Pernod and puffing on a Gitane, but the truth of the matter is that his personal influence on those breakdown and continuity moments was so huge that Galthie wouldn’t dream of taking him off after such a brilliant shift of the unseen forward arts.
Alongside him, Mickael Guillard justified his place from the first second of the match when his jackal set the tone for the rest of the French performance, demonstrating precisely why he’s being fast-tracked into Les Blues as a back five utility player.
Add in a massively abrasive performance from Greg Alldritt, an assured return to Test action for Thibaud Flament and a thunderingly physical effort from Paul Boudehent, you might conclude that in a match where the backs will get the headlines, it was the brilliance of the French forward effort, that wonderfully balanced back five in the pack and those lightning fast centre field rucks that crushed the Azzurri.
Selections justified
Pre-match, many fans and pundits alike picked their jaws up off the floor when they heard that the great wing, Damian Penaud, and the mercurial 10, Matthieu Jalibert, had been sent back to Bordeaux to play for their club. France also lost Emmanuel Meafou, adding to their ever-lengthening injury list, which made some say that Italy might just have a glimmer of hope.
Not on your Nellie. The players that came in – Leo Barre at fullback, Theo Attissogbe on the right wing and Guillard in the second-row all delivered exceptional performances, particularly Barre, whose pass pack inside to Louis Bielle-Biarrey to set up the first Dupont try was something that might possibly be framed in the Louvre one day. Barre was sensational – he added a towering 6’3” and some 101kgs into the French back three, fusing power and pace alike to give France a complete performance at 15. In fact, his naturally direct approach really suited the way Les Bleus wanted to play and the balance in the spine of nine, 10 and 15 looked much better than two weeks ago at Twickenham.
Guillard offered more athleticism and nuisance than Meafou in many ways. Sure, you can’t replace the rumbling power of the big Toulouse lock, but this was a match for width and fleet of foot carrying, something that the youngster from Lyon offers in bucketloads. France will certainly revert to Meafou against the big nations but their squad has a new depth at lock for his inclusion.
Galthie certainly rolled the dice pre-match in his selection decisions. Post-game he’s at the Casino house window cashing in his chips with a big smile of a winner on his face.
Italy’s one plus
Italy were schooled up front and, at times, torn apart in defence as a result of the French forward dominance. Losing Danilo Fischetti after 20 minutes, a key influence in defence and around the breakdown on the day of his 50th cap, was a hammer blow for them, as the loosehead consistently tops the jackal, ruck and tackle stats for the Azzurri. But in the back five, they were dismantled with clinical precision and Gonzalo Quesada will take a hard look at fitness drop-off, bench structure and defensive alignment before Italy travel to Twickenham in a fortnight for Round Four.
However, in midfield, the brilliance of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello shone in a sea of blue mediocrity. The two Benetton centres were far superior to France’s Yoram Moefana and Pierre-Louis Barassi, and if they’d have had the armchair ride from their forwards that the French midfield enjoyed, the game may well have been a lot closer.
Time and time again Brex picked open the French centre partnership with a thrilling variety of pops, cutbacks and long passing. For the Menoncello try, his physical presence into the French defence allowed him to deliver a sumptuous pop pass for his Benetton colleague who flew to the line.
Italy player ratings: Azzurri a ‘shambles’ as Les Bleus ‘Bomb Squad’ runs riot in Rome
A few moments later, Brex was on the end of an equally brilliant offload from Michele Lamaro as he cut back across the grain on a great line to grab one for himself under the posts.
Italy might not have a lot to be positive about given the scoreline, but they can take some solace that they have one of the best centre partnerships in Test rugby at this moment in time.
Moments to remember
On the left wing, Bielle-Biarrey showed some of the most wonderous touches on a rugby pitch. His little grubber and collect for Barre to crash over and his pinpoint 25m pass on the run to Dupont for the first of the scrum-half’s brace were all so memorable, but his one-handed overhead catch-and-pass was something from the highest drawer of rugby skill.
The work of Barre in the build-up to that Dupont score, as he gathered and offloaded behind the defender to maintain continuity, was majestic and the big full-back threatened every time he had the ball in hand.
Passages of play saw Cyril Baille and Anthony Jelonch combine in midfield, with their backs like basketball players, and the crash off the lineout by Cros to recycle for Alldritt to thunder over was out of the textbook of lineout peel play.
From the moment Parisse walked onto the pitch with his two kids, Leo and Emily, to the final throes of the match when Barassi sealed the drubbing, there were so many moments of magic to remember in this match and you couldn’t help but conclude that the great man himself would have been proud to have delivered some of the skill moments of this tremendous advertisement for the Six Nations and for French rugby.
READ NEXT: Spellbinding France send warning to Ireland with stunning 11-try demolition of Italy