Australia 34-13 France: Australia recovered from a sloppy start to crush an under-strength France 34-13 in their first test at the Olympic stadium today.
The Wallabies, in only their second match under new coach Robbie Deans, struggled to find any cohesion in a scrappy opening before finally clicking into gear and running in four tries in the last 45 minutes.
Outhalf Matt Giteau, lock Nathan Sharpe, flanker Rocky Elsom and captain Stirling Mortlock helped themselves to five-pointers as the Wallabies fell just short of their record 23-point winning margin over the French, the 35-12 World Cup final victory in 1999.
France, who were forced to field a weakened team with many top players unavailable because of club commitments, scored a late consolation try through debutant winger Alexis Palisson after scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili landed two first half penalties.
The match failed to reach any great heights as both sides struggled to control possession in a dour first period punctuated by handling errors.
Locked at 3-3 five minutes before halftime, Australian fullback Cameron Shepherd provided the half's lone highlight by launching a rare counterattack from inside his team's quarter.
Shepherd offloaded to wing Adam Ashley-Cooper, a replacement for the injured Lote Tuqiri, and after he was brought down, the Australians quickly recycled to allow Giteau to slice through and score the first of his 19 points.
Australia led 10-6 at halftime but piled on 24 unanswered second half points to put the result beyond doubt.
Sharpe barged his way over from close-range shortly after the re-start after scrumhalf Luke Burgess made a bust, then Elsom galloped over after inside centre Berrick Barnes had been held up over the line.
Mortlock, who had troubled the French all night with his bulldozing runs from centre, scored off an intercept. Giteau landed his fourth conversion of the night after booting two penalties.
With the match safe, Deans used the last quarter to clear the bench but the Wallabies were unable to score again and conceded a try to Palisson who wriggled his way over after being crash-tackled by Mortlock.
The second and final test is in Brisbane next week.
Australia: Cameron Shepherd; Peter Hynes, Stirling Mortlock (capt), Berrick Barnes, Lote Tuqiri; Matt Giteau, Luke Burgess; Benn Robinson, Stephen Moore, Al Baxter, James Horwill, Nathan Sharpe, Rocky Elsom, George Smith, Wycliff Palu.
Replacements: Adam Freier, Ben Alexander, Dean Mumm, Phil Waugh, Sam Cordingley, Ryan Cross, Adam Ashley-Cooper.
France: Pepito Elhorga; Alexis Palissson, Francois Trinh-Duc, Damien Traille, Benjamin Thiery; Benjamin Boyet, Dimitri Yachvili; Lionel Faure, Sebastien Bruno, Benoit Lecouls, Sebastien Chabal, Lionel Nallet (capt), Imanol Harinordoquy, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Louis Picamoles.
Replacements: Benjamin Kayser, Renaud Boyoud, David Couzinet, Matthieu Lievremont, Sebastien Tillous-Bordes, Thubault Lacroix, David Janin.
Referee: M Jonker (South Africa)
