France dazzles with 7 tries and sends Wallabies home from winless tour of Europe

PARIS (AP) — France produced its best attacking performance at home this year to outscore Australia by a record 48-33 at the Stade de France on Saturday.

The defense was poor in allowing five tries and the Wallabies in the match until the 72nd minute.

But the attack sparkled with seven tries, some of them breathtaking, for their highest ever score against Australia. They also notched three straight wins over the Wallabies for the first time in 49 years.

Coach Fabien Galthie said France was still not at the level it was before the 2023 Rugby World Cup, where it was a big favorite. That was evident this month by the loss to South Africa and flawed wins over Fiji and Australia.

“Conceding 12 tries in three matches and giving away eight penalties inside the 22 meters against Australia highlight the scale of the work ahead,” Galthie said.

But he was excited by some of the talent coming through: “I sense great competition within the squad. There are players with real potential emerging.”

They include Nicolas Depoortere, who scored his second straight brace for France, and Kalvin Gourgues, a 20-year-old center, debuted off the bench and broke from inside his own half to gift Louis Bielle-Biarrey his second try.

The Wallabies were consigned to a first winless tour of Europe since 1958 and a record 10th loss in a single year.

“I think this (tour) will actually stand to them next year and the year beyond, I really do,” Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said. “It will be tough to take at the moment. We’re all pretty disappointed because we know how much support we’ve had from home and we were desperate tonight to give them something to cheer about. I hope they saw some promise and the effort, even if the execution wasn’t quite there.”

They were said to be mentally and physically exhausted after consecutive losses to England, Italy and Ireland but they started brilliantly and hooker Matt Faessler crashed through France centers Depoortere and Gael Fickou for the opening try.

Bielle-Biarrey set up the reply by Depoortere, and while Wallabies flyhalf Tane Edmed missed his first two goalkicks, he converted a try by prop Angus Bell, who chucked off Thomas Ramos and gassed clear from 40 meters out.

France struck twice in a row when Julien Marchand’s turnover was capped by a try for Ramos, and Bielle-Biarrey finished a sensational solo try from his own chip and running catch.

Faessler’s second try, following a yellow card for France scrumhalf Maxime Lucu, tied the score on 19-19 at halftime.

After the interval, Ramos broke free and Bielle-Biarrey came off his wing to send Depoortere over again.

A turnover on halfway by Australia put the ball in the hands of fullback Max Jorgensen, who tore away and, with three Frenchmen bearing down on him, cleverly kicked ahead and slid onto the ball in goal.

Edmed’s touchline conversion had Australia just 27-26 behind.

Marchand’s try from a lineout maul propelled France further ahead again. But despite Tom Hooper being in the sin-bin for side entry into a maul, Australia just missed a try chance when the pass went behind Rob Valetini on the line.

In a final flourish, Gourges teed up Bielle-Biarrey for France to go a decisive 15 points ahead, followed by first test tries for Australia’s Josh Nasser and France’s Maxime Lamothe.

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This story has been corrected to show France scored seven tries, not eight.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby