France still in title contention

Paris Match: Jérôme Thion is cut down to size at the Stade de France

France set up an intriguing finale to the Six Nations by recording an entertaining 25-13 win over the much-improved Italians in Paris on Sunday - a 20-point win in Cardiff on Saturday would hand the tournament spoils to the French and deny Wales of the Grand Slam.

If Les Bleus come up short of that target on Saturday, the Welsh should send the Italians a crate or two of Brains Bitter.

Had it not been for some solid defence from the visitors to Paris, a fine kicking display from Andrea Marcato and a well-taken try by Martin Castrogiovanni, France's task at the Millennium would not loom like mission impossible.

But back to the game in hand.

A loss to Italy would have forced the locals to relinquish the crown they have held for the past two years to unbeaten Wales - yet, despite not firing on all cylinders, they did what they had to do.

Anthony Floch, starting for the first time for his country, went over for their only try of the first half, with Yannick Jauzion and Aurélien Rougerie adding others after the break.

Dimitri Yachvili was impressive on his return to the Test arena after a year in the wilderness, the Biarritz scrum-half kicking ten points via two penalties and two conversions.

But all in all, and contrary to the positive response of the crowd at the final whistle (a rare thing in these parts), new-look France did not totally impress against an Italy side that scrapped like lions but failed to register their first win of the tournament.

The Azzurri came into the match never having beaten France in the Six Nations and having conceded 132 points in their last three tournament games against their transalpine rivals.

But a landslide result was not expected here, given France's fallibility in their pack of late and head coach Marc Lièvremont's decision to make nine changes in another experimental line-up.

Italy put up a good fight in a scrappy first half that saw handling and set-piece errors.

France should have put points on the board in the fourth minute when they were awarded a penalty close to the Italian try-line.

Captain Lionel Nallet chose a tap-and-go rather than a kick at goal but botched his quick-kick - according to referee Alan Lewis - and the chance was lost.

France had the better of the early possession though, and produced a well-worked try in the 13th minute to open the scoring.

A rolling maul saw them gain 30 metres and when the ball was eventually recycled out, fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc sent a crossfield kick to the left corner.

Julien Malzieu was the grateful recipient and he patted the ball down to Clermont-Auvergne team-mate Floch, who dived over from close range.

Yachvili booted the conversion but Marcato punished Louis Picamoles for a nonsensical offside with a 40-yard penalty to make it 7-3 moments later.

Italy then wasted a glorious chance to take the lead in the 22nd minute. Leonardo Ghiraldini held off a tackle from Yachvili to scamper down the left touchline and he fed inside for Gonzalo Canale.

All the centre had to do was collect the pass and the try was his, but he fumbled 10 metres out.

The hosts' line-out was malfunctioning badly but they extended their lead in the 27th minute when Yachvili slotted over a penalty after the recalled Jauzion was taken out off the ball.

Marcato and Yachvili swapped penalties in the last 10 minutes of the first half as the game remained close, but France looked to have got a vital score in the 52nd minute when Jauzion went over in the left corner.

Yachvili did the clever work, pulling away from an umpteenth forward incursion by the French pack and chipping a kick over the top of a static defence.

Toulouse star Jauzion was quickest to pounce and collect a friendly bounce to plunder over.

Twelve points in arrears, Italy knew they had to hit back quickly and they did just that.

They turned down a kick at goal in the 57th minute in favour of an attacking line-out and the ploy worked a treat.

The throw was taken and Castrogiovanni, a try-scorer against Wales a fortnight ago, was at the base of an unstoppable rolling maul to dive over in the right corner.

Marcato converted but France were not to be undone.

They were denied a try on the hour mark when video replays confirmed Rougerie was held up over the line following a stunning tackle by Mirco Bergamasco.

But the winger got his own back in the 64th minute, running onto a superb offload by substitute Damien Traille and powering through a midfield gap to ground under the posts.

Yachvili converted and that proved to be the final score as Italy failed to find a cutting edge in the final 10 minutes, despite bossing possession and territory.

Man of the match: A much-improved performance from the Italians, with Sergio Parisse proving once again that he is the form number eight of the tournament, if not the world. There was a great France debut from strong centre Yann David, and prop Fabien Barcella produced more running than England's entire backline in Edinburgh on Saturday. Julien Malzieu underlined his potential whilst industrious Aurélien Rougerie proved to us - if not perhaps to Marc Lièvremont - that experience counts for so much at this level.

Moment of the match: Surely France's first try - a 15-man masterpiece.

Villian of the match: If spilling a try-scoring pass for the second time in as many games was not bad enough, Gonzalo Canale also handed three points to the French via a cynical block on Yannick Jauzion. Salvatore Perugini also deserves a slap on the wrist for his overly enthusiastic embrace of Lionel Nallet, although we did ponder whether the French captain has a penchant for amateur dramatics.

The scorers:

For France:

Tries: Floch, David, Rougerie

Cons: Yachvili 2

Pens: Yachvili 2

For Italy:

Tries: Castrogiovanni

Cons: Marcato

Pens: Marcato 2

Italy: 15 Andrea Marcato, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Ezio Galon, 10 Andrea Masi, 9 Simon Picone, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.

Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 Salvatore Perugini, 19 Jacobus Erasmus, 20 Pietro Travagli, 21 Enrico Patrizio, 22 Alberto Sgarbi.

France: 15 Anthony Floch, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 Yann David, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Ibrahim Diarra, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Lionel Nallet (c), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.

Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Arnaud Méla, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Julien Tomas, 21 Damien Traille, 22 Vincent Clerc.

Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

Touch judges: Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Federico Cuesta (Argentina)

Television match official: Dave Pearson (England)

Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (France)