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TRY! France 26-8 Italy (Drean, 72)
Try on debut! France win the line-out and get a maul on. They eke out a penalty and with Drean in so much space down on the right wing, Ramos kicks into the space ahead. A bounce and a simple catch means the new man is over as he smiles. Ramos makes a tricky conversion look routine.
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Yellow card! Italy (Lynagh, 71)
Tha’t’s made things almost impossible now fior Italy. He entered the side of a ruck and then committed a deliberate knock on. Take your pick.
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69 min: Lynagh spills a ball in the air but France counter. Dupont then rakes a kick forcing Odogwu to clean up. Italy retain possession from a French kick but they’re turned over on the floor. It’s all happening between the 10m lines either side of halfway.
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67 min: Yet another scrum penalty for Italy. I think that’s four for the match. They play with advantage as P Garbisi runs hard and straight. His brother, on at 9, keeps things ticking, but Italy can’t beat the French defence. We go back for the penalty that is kicked out short of the 22. But France pinch that line-out. The Italian line-out has more than malfunctioned. It might be the reason they lose this game.
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65 min: A couple of French errors means a little messy passage ends with Italy having the scrum between their 22 and halfway. That was a spill in the air from LBB. But Italy, when they get the ball back, don’t look like breaking the French line. In fact a wild pass in an attempt to rush the play ended in a French hand. The crowd celebrate prematurely but we go back from the knock-on.
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64 min: Italy get the ball in and out of the scrum and Capuozzo hoofs it down field. He finds touch beyond the 22.
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63 min: Oh France spill the ball! Brau-Boirie! Can’t believe France didn’t score. They kept hammering the line. It felt inevitable. But the centre took his eyes off the ball as his vision was flooded by red jerseys. Italy have the scrum feed five out from their own line.
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62 min: France showing some class now. Attissogbe got a lovely off-load away for LBB on his left. They’re nine phases and a metre short. After the backs down the line the forwards get to work. Italy slow it down illegally so France have the penalty under the shade of Italy’s sticks. One more try should prove the winner.
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60 min: France have Italy exactly where they want them. The men in red just cannot get out of their half. They’re back in their 22, throwing to a line-out. But it’s skew. Again. So France gifted possession.
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57 min: France back on the ball after Italy’s long kick. They kick. They kick again after winning possession. Ioane kicks from deep. Ramos kicks high. Capuozzo fields before Fusco kicks. France win the battle as the Italian scrumhalf hoofs it straight out. France will have the line-out between Italy’s 22 and halfway.
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55 min: The referee changed his mind. There was actually a French knock-on in that so Italy have the feed. Garbisi finds Lynagh who is cut down. Italy kick possession away – inexplicably I might add – so France have. the ball inside their half. Dupont shapes to kick but passes. Now he kicks. High and long where Marin takes a tough catch over his shoulder. Italy pinned in their half. They need to show a bit more if they have any design on a comeback. Capuozzo tries from his own 22 but is snaffled.
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54 min: Capuozzo counters and is snaffled by two French tacklers. The ball is stolen and France attack from inside Italy’s patch. But the ball is spilled. Scrum to the visitors just beyond their 22. France don’t take the hit so give away the freekick. Garbisi hacks a kick downtown. Italy have it then spill it. French scrum on halfway.
The fluency and energy of the first half has evaporated.
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51 min: France don’t win the penalty at the scrum but they spark a move down the line. Attissogbe has it and is tackled. Dupont keeps peppering the blindside but the grubber bobbles out of touch. Italy take the line-out quickly and kick ahead. Cappuozzo and LBB are in a foot race. The Italian is fast but the Frenchman is quicker. He gets there first and Dupont, back inside his 22, boxes down to halfway. Line-out for Italy. This time they win possession. But spill the ball soon after. Went backwards so they build on halfway.
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50 min: Italy once again hand possession back with a spill at the line-out. My goodness, that part of their game has just been pants this afternoon! France have the scrum feed. It’s been a bit of a crap shoot at the scrum but they must figure they can eke a penalty from inside their half.
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48 min: Italy get the ball out the scrum and Garbisi clears. Attissogbe looks nervy in the backfield but does enough to recycle the ball. Dupont then explodes down the blindside on the right near the touchline and finds Bielle-Biarrey who is motoring upfield. France are cantering until Menoncello runs back and nails Jegou and then gets to his feet to win the turnover. Great stuff from the Italians. If they can score next they’re in with a shout.
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46 min: France chuck a forward pass off that first phase strike play from the line-out. Ramos is shaking his head but the referee’s decision is final. Was slick before that with Marchand running hard and Dupont welcoming contact before feeding his 10. Italy have the scrum outside their 22 bang in front.
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45 min: Penalty this time fro France at the scrum! If you are a fan of 16 men gathering in a tight space and shoving each other, you are laughing! Credit to the French pack who underlined their credentials there. Ramos shunts this to Italy’s 22 and France get going.
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44 min: This time Italy go to the front of the line-out but France pinch it. Italy’s scrum is thrumming but their line-out is faltering. The clearing kick pushes them back inside their half and Fusco hoists a high return box. A strong Italian chase forces the knock-on so they get the scrum feed beyond halfway.
Have I mentioned that it’s been a stodgy start to the second half?
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43 min: Another scrum penalty for Italy! My word, what a set piece they have! Garbisi taps this out. It’s not a great kick. He left about 10 metres on that so Italy will only have the throw on France’s 22. Still, an opportunity to strike.
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41 min: Attissogbe makes a real mess under a high ball, leaping to catch it. Be he gets underneath and it bounces behind him. He got a touch on the. way so Italy will have the first line-out of the half. They go over the top but it’s incredibly skew and beyond the 15. So We have a French scrum.
Sloppy start to the half from both sides.
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Italy had 57% of territory in that half.
I agree with Biggar. If someone out there is watching rugby for the first time they’d wonder why the better team isn’t on top.
Perhaps any other side, one without Dupont and Bielle-Biarrey, would be behind.
But when you have a 9 who can spark things from nothing, and a wing who can turn the lights off and tuck himself in bed for the room goes dark, you don’t need to be at your best to be better than your opponent.
Make sense? Great.
Here come the players which means I can stop rambling.
Second half about to get going!
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Reader James knows exactly where Giuseppe Garibaldi would slot in on a rugby pitch:
“Definitely a swashbuckling fly half.”
I’d agree if he played for Italy. If he played for France he’d be a scrum-half.
He was, after all, a literal general.
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“Italy must be more accurate,” says their former skipper Segio Parisse on ITV.
Dan Biggar says it’s “been a funny kind of game,” pointing out that Italy have maybe been the better team.
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White we munch on our halftime orange, George G wants to remind us of the history between these nations:
double quotation markYou mentioned the Garibaldi Cup. Worth noting Garibaldi was born in Nice when it was still part of the Italian kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. So if he was a rugby player I think he’d qualify for both France & Italy.
Nice was handed to France in exchange for French military help in Italian unification so Garibaldi later lamented he’d become a foreigner in his own home town.
Interesting stuff. Wonder what position he’d play?
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Half-time: France 19-8 Italy
France almost score with a superb strike move! Dupont missed Ramos off the scrum but the 10 was on the loop and had it off his centre before a delayed pass found Drean on a blind run. The winger darted for the right corner but was shunted out about two metres short.
That bring an energetic half of rugby to a close. Italy can maybe feel slightly hard down by as the score doesn’t quite reflect the flow of the game. But France are so clinical.
Back in a bit.
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40 min: Italy spill the restart. How frustrating. That hands France a chance to strike on the visitor’s 22 just before the break.
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Penalty! France 19-8 Italy (Garbisi, 40)
A swinging left boot and Italy chip away at the deficit.
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39 min: Italy win the scrum penalty! They’ve already handed out lessons to Scotland and Ireland. Now the Italian pack is getting the better of the monstrous French heavies. It’s well within range and Garbisi calls for the tee.
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38 min: Italy enjoying a spell on the ball between halfway and France’s 22. But they’re not really going anywhere. France’s defence has them comfortably at arm’s length and, in an attempt to up the ante, Garbisi throws a forward pass. France make a change in the front row ahead of this scrum. Cros makes way for Neti. Another Tolouse man in a team stacked with them.
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36 min: Jegou flings a wild pass that is gobbled up by Italy on halfway. Too eager and they get away with it. Menoncello chases the kick but LBB is there to watch ti bobble over the try line and dots down safely.
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35 min: France show unreal continuity in close quarters. Dupont found Meafou with a delicious off-load. Eight phases from a scrum on the 22 and they’re a couple of metres short. Gailleton took his eyes off the ball in midfield and Italy manage to push France back to the 22 and come up with the steal! They set themselves up for an exit and Fusco hoofs a kick that is partially charged down. France come again from halfway.
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TRY! France 19-5 Italy (Cappuozo, 32)
France shoot themselves in the foot! Credit must go to Italy. They launched a counter down the right with Menoncello who kicked upfield and had the ball stop jus short of the French line. Ramos ran back and flicked it up for Attissogbe who didn’t kick but tried to run it back from his own line. He was swarmed by three Italian cleaners and when the ball bobbled lose the Italian fullback was there to dot down. The conversion from the right of the poles is missed.
What a game we have here!
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TRY! France 19-0 Italy (Ramos, 29)
A bolt from le bleu! From nothing. Italy had the line-out but overcooked it, missing their jumpers. France hacked ahead as the ball bounced and it fell into the breadbasket of Gailleton who exploded upfield and away from the chasing Italians. When he ran out of room down the left tram he found Ramos back infield. The 10 pinned his ears down and went for the corner before finishing under contact. Sublime. Three red zone visits. Three tries. Ramos dusts himself off and nails the tricky conversion from the left.
Thomas Ramos of France avoids a tackle form Ange Capuozzo of Italy to go on and score his team’s third try. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.10 GMT
28 min: Italy win the line-out just beyond France’s 22 and maul it into the red zone. It stalls and Fusco is told to use it. Menoncello hits a lovely line and makes about 10 metres before he’s dragged down. But the ball is pinched! By Dupont! Is there anything he can’t do? So strong to snatch it out of Menconcello’s hands as the Italian centre was held up in the air.
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26 min: Italy have it on France’s 22. They’re building. Eight phases. Menoncello on the right. 10 phases. Garbisi hoists a high cross-field into France’s 22 and Drean does really well under pressure to hold on and take the mark.
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