Following France’s 73-24 victory over Italy in round three of the Six Nations, here are the Planet Rugby player ratings from Rome. 

France player ratings v Italy

15 Leo Barré: A few eyebrows were raised by his inclusion, but he certainly proved those doubters wrong with a fine display. Played a key role in his side’s fluid attack, and was seemingly popping up all over the pitch like a whack-a-mole. Also grabbed a nice brace for his efforts. 9

14 Théo Attissogbe: A big call to bring him in for Damian Penaud, but he was incredibly sharp throughout. Posed a serious threat out wide, with his speed causing opposite man Simone Gesi plenty of problems. Looks every inch a Test superstar in the making. 9

13 Pierre-Louis Barassi: Quieter than the rest of his explosive backline, but was still very solid. Came up with a couple of nice flashes to create chances for the rest of his side. 7

12 Yoram Moefana: Had a fairly quiet start but grew into the game nicely. Carried hard through traffic, but managed to get his hands free for some offloads too which brought the rest of their attack into space. 7

11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey: Yet again sensational, as he shows just how much of a weapon he is in this French set-up. Constantly found himself in different holes, which caused carnage for the Italian defences. Also has this ability to create an utterly ridiculous try from absolutely nowhere, which came to the fore today. 9

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10 Thomas Ramos: Slotted back in at fly-half, and was right in the thick of the action. Came up with some lovely attacking plays to get the rest of the backline purring, and also posed a threat at the line himself. 8

9 Antoine Dupont: Magnifique from the French wizard, who was back to his best. His combination with Ramos really got their attack firing, but he also managed to put his own stardust onto things too. The way he just wiggles himself out of trouble and then still makes an unbelievable pass to inspire a counter-attack needs to be studied. 9

Planet Rugby player ratings key 10 - Career defining performance 9 - Outright blockbuster effort 8 - Significantly influenced the result of the game 7 - Committed and effective outing 6 - Flashes of brilliance outside of executing fundamentals 5 - Fulfilling the role required by position (base level) 4 - Poor execution of fundamentals 3 - Costly errors and/or discipline in the game 2 - Poor performance that directly impacted the result 1 - Grossly ineffective throughout 0 - Should have carried water insteadPlanet Rugby player ratings key 10 - Career defining performance 9 - Outright blockbuster effort 8 - Significantly influenced the result of the game 7 - Committed and effective outing 6 - Flashes of brilliance outside of executing fundamentals 5 - Fulfilling the role required by position (base level) 4 - Poor execution of fundamentals 3 - Costly errors and/or discipline in the game 2 - Poor performance that directly impacted the result 1 - Grossly ineffective throughout 0 - Should have carried water instead

Back-row

8 Gregory Alldritt: Absolutely brutal in the tight, which is exactly what you’d expect from Alldritt. Made consistent dents into the Italian defensive line, which in turn allowed his team to turn it on. 9

7 Paul Boudehent: Really solid outing from the flanker, who did all the ugly stuff exceptionally. Was a menace in the breakdown and got himself about on both sides of the ball. 8

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6 Francois Cros: Another reminder of just how important he is to this French pack. Gave them consistent clean ball at the lineout, worked incredibly hard in the tight and also had some deft touches to connect with the backs. Just a delightful rugby player. 8

Tight five

5 Mickaël Guillard: Had a big job replacing the immense Emmanuel Meafou, but was just as effective. Put in the hard graft up front and scored a nice try for his work. Impressive outing all round. 8

4 Thibaud Flament: A welcome return to the Test stage for the influential lock. Just worked incredibly hard around the park to help his pack get on the front foot. 7

3 Uini Atonio: Classy. His delicious handling played a huge part in unlocking the Italian defence, but he combined that with some seriously good work in the tight and the scrum. 8

2 Peato Mauvaka: Didn’t quite have his usual flourishes, probably as a result of that England game, but he was still very good. Made some decent rumbles ball-in-hand and gave them a good platform from the set-piece too. 7

1 Jean-Baptiste Gros: Hands of a half-back, but the sheer brute force of a top-quality loosehead. Just an immense performance from the prop forward, who is making that number 1 shirt his own at the moment. 8

Replacements: A lot of the talk coming into the game was on the 7:1 split and luckily for Fabien Galthie it paid off no end.

The backline clearly didn’t need changing, as they just kept their foot on Italy’s throat for the full 80 minutes, but that then meant the forwards could just flog themselves and get taken off.

But, it’s one thing to just come on and close a game out and another thing to kill a game off, and ‘Le Bomb Squad’ killed it off as a contest. Just as the monstrous French pack began to tire, the bench was rolled on and got them back on the front foot. The work of Julien Marchand, Cyril Baille, Dorian Aldegheri, Romain Taofifenua, Oscar Jegou and Anthony Jelonch – all rolled on together – was utterly brilliant, and Alexandre Roumat added to that nicely. 

Maxime Lucu also came on and gave a good account of himself. 9

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