Stade des Arboras, Nice Result: France 21 italy 0
This really was a strange game, played in front of a tiny crowd, barely over 3,000, in huge contrast to the vast gates attracted to watch Les Bleues over recent matches.
And the French squad seemed to react to the lack of atmosphere. The scoring was quite bizarre; the hosts established a decent lead of 21-0 in the first quarter. After that not a single addition to the scoreboard before the end. Hard to recall a women’s international of that shape for many a long year.
Will the French be happy about this lack of scoring, so close to a World Cup? It’s hard to imagine Thomas Darracq reacting positively. But he has a second chance to clarify his demands when the Azzurre host a return match in Biella, north of Turin, on 9 September.
The French set their mark on the game very early, driving irresistibly over the line after six minutes.
Caroline Drouin set up the second with a nice move; a dummy run inside by Chloé Jacquet gave her room for an outside break. The Italians countered well, but the French forwards arrived to complete the deal.
The Italians thought they had had scored a lovely try of their own. The evergreen Sara Barattin hoisted a high box-kick behind a line-out; Maria Magatti caught it on the full, galloped ahead and managed to find Alyssa D’Inca as she has hauled down. She dived over.
But the TMO asked Sara Cox to check the winger’s position at the moment the ball was kicked. Oh dear, she was obviously in front. Hence the French clean sheet.
Magatti’s day was not improved by being shown a yellow card.
The three French tries were scored by Sansus, Ferer and Deshayes. Drouin converted all three.
This was far from the frenzied send-off we might have expected from French fans seeing their favourites for the last time on home soil before the World Cup.
At least they could see the return of Rose Bernadou at tight-head, the debut of 20-year-old Charlotte Escudero at blind-side, of whom Darracq has the highest hopes, and Gabrielle Vernier coming on in the last quarter to replace Drouin. This looked like a final attempt to establish a reliable support No 10, a surprising and worrying gap in a French squad that seemed to have all corners covered.
The Azzurre must claim brownie points for holding out against the visitors for the whole of the second half. But this was a game full of unforced errors, just what coaches don’t don’t want to see at this stage of the season.
