Australia remained unbeaten on their European tour, taking advantage of France’s poor kicking to win 18-13 on Saturday.
Hooker Stephen Moore and wing Peter Hynes scored tries for the Wallabies while flyhalf Matt Giteau added a conversion and two penalties.
The hosts were awarded a penalty try just before halftime after tearing down an Australian scrum. Fullback Maxime Medard also kicked a 50-metre drop goal which brushed the crossbar.
France flyhalf David Skrela slotted a conversion and a penalty but also missed five penalties and a drop goal.
”It was not a miracle, it was just a rugby game and sometimes it’s just like that,” said Australia coach Robbie Deans, who answered all questions in French during the press conference.
”I think our discipline was good but there were a lot of penalties. Maybe, next time we’ll adjust to the referee,” he added.
”I was a bit surprised to see the French kicking so many up-and-unders. Maybe they had noticed that we had not done too well under the high ball recently but we improved a lot, we had a lot of training. It was a hard, and difficult game.”
The Wallabies, who had already beaten England 28-14 and Italy 30-20, face Wales next Saturday in the last game of the tour.
France, who had enjoyed wins over Argentina and the Pacific Islanders but regarded the Australia test as the game that mattered, missed an early penalty through Skrela.
Australia weathered the storm and kept the French on their toes with Giteau’s precise kicking.
In a game littered with penalties for ruck infringements, Stirling Mortlock failed to take advantage from his team’s first shot at goal from just inside French territory.
First blood
Giteau finally drew first blood with a well-struck penalty from just outside the French 22.
Moore then barged his way to the line after picking the ball up from the back of a close-range ruck, Giteau converting to open a 10-point lead.
Just before halftime Australia scrumhalf Luke Burgess, under pressure at a scrum, flung a pass beyond Giteau and dead.
From the five-metre scrum which followed the Wallabies were again shoved back and South African referee Craig Joubert punished them with a penalty try.
”Our scrummaging was the best surprise of the game but there weren’t enough scrums,” France coach Marc Lievremont said.
This time Skrela was on target and reduced the deficit to 10-7 at halftime before levelling the score eight minutes into the second half with an easy penalty.
Three minutes later Medard gave France the lead for the first time with his 50-metre drop.
The Wallabies, however, silenced the Stade de France crowd when Hynes dived over just before the hour.
Giteau booted his second penalty in the 74th minute before Skrela ended his miserable evening by being sin-binned for a high tackle on Digby Loane.
”It’s a bitter disappointment because we had our hands on the game when we led 13-10. Then we gave away precious possessions in their 30 metres and against a team like Australia you can’t afford to do that,” Lievremont said.
”The most frustrating thing is that we didn’t manage to put our game together.” – Reuters