Italy 23 France 18:Italy produced a stunning all-round performance to shock France 23-18 at the Stadio Olimpico yesterday to blast the Six Nations wide open.
More usually contenders for the competition’s wooden spoon, Italy proved their victory over the French two seasons ago was no fluke as they defended well and took their chances against the 2011 World Cup runners-up.
Tries from captain Sergio Parisse and Martin Castrogiovanni, plus 10 points from man-of-the-match Luciano Orquera and three from substitute Kris Burton led them to victory, just their third ever over the French.
France were far from their best and despite tries from Louis Picamoles and Benjamin Fall and eight points from a rejuvenated Frederick Michalak, they were deservedly beaten by Jacques Brunel’s effervescent side.
“I’m really happy for the team and the fans, after two years weve beaten France again in Rome,” Orquera said. “We were mentally extremely strong right from the beginning, we wanted to win at any cost and we were always in the match. We never gave up.”
Led from the front
Italy joined England and Ireland on two points and sit in third place after the first round of games.
Italy captain Parisse led from the front, putting his team ahead with only four minutes gone with a spectacular counter-attacking try.
The move was started when Luke McLean recovered a France kick and burst through the first line of defence. The ball was fed to the magnificent Orquera, who offloaded to his captain and then converted the try.
France responded with intense pressure, and a try bundled over the line by Picamoles looked to have levelled the scores, only for Michalak to miss an easy conversion.
Orquera extended Italys lead to 10-5 with a smart drop goal on the quarter hour and the number 10 continued his hot form three minutes later with a converted penalty.
Italys defence did brilliantly to hold back France’s powerful attack in the first half hour, only conceding a 27th-minute Michalak penalty after France had a Yoann Huget try denied by the TMO a minute before.
Collapsed scrum
However, Philippe Saint Andre’s team took the lead three minutes later, Benjamin Fall taking the ball from Huget and scoring a try under the posts which Michalak had no problem converting to give France a 15-13 halftime lead.
Outhalf Michalak, who was brought back into the international fold by Saint Andre last year after several seasons in the wilderness, gave France a five-point advantage with a penalty for collapsed scrum with 50 minutes gone.
He nearly made it eight two minutes later when he narrowly missed another penalty from near the halfway line.
France looked to be dominating but a sudden burst of pressure from Italy resulted in Castrogiovanni scoring his 12th international try on 56 minutes which was comfortably converted by Orquera for a 20-18 scoreline.
Burton, who replaced Orquera as outhalf, gave his side a five-point lead 12 minutes later with a deft drop goal which had Italy fans dreaming of a repeat of their 2011 heroics when they beat France 22-21 for their first Six Nations win over them.
As the match moved to its close, France turned the screw, and with a minute left Davide Giazzon was sin-binned, leaving the home fans to suffer for the excruciating final seconds.
