The Wallabies kicked off the 2014 Test season by taking on the French in Brisbane. The match also marked the start of Stephen Moore’s captaincy after being announced as the 81st Australian captain earlier in the week.
The French are known for the unpredictability and would be interesting to see how Phillipe Saint-Andre’s men would go and try to secure their first victory on Australian soil since 1990.
The Match
The Wallabies have put on a dominant display lead by the forwards in a 50-23 win over the French in Brisbane. There were seven tries scored by the hosts as they put a disjointed French side to the sword in front of 33,718 fans.
The French showed their intent immediately from the kickoff and threw the ball wide in attempt to open up the Wallabies defence but were able to hold them out.
The Wallabies opened the scoring from the boot of Bernard Foley in the fourth minute but that lead would not last for too long with French fly half Frederic Michalak responding with a drop goal with the help of the left upright just minutes later.
The Wallabies were dealt an early blow with newly installed captain Stephen Moore forced to leave the field within the opening five minutes with a medial injury to his left knee that saw Michael Hooper assume the captaincy.
The French proved they were up for the challenge and went close to scoring the opening try after a brilliant set piece move but a poor pass in a good attacking position put an end to that raid to the let the Wallabies off the hook.
The hosts had a chance to grab back the lead following a penalty from the French scrum but Foley’s attempt hit the post to leave the scores at 3-3.
It took about 15 minutes for the Wallabies to find their rhythm with the forwards starting to get involved and make small gains against a strong French defence.
They spurned another shot at penalty goal and opted to kick for the line and that was rewarded with Israel Folau crossing for the first try in the 19th minute in the left corner after some great handling from the 50th cap pairing of Wycliff Palu and James Slipper. Foley landed the conversion from the wing to make it 10-3 inside 20 minutes.
It took only four more minutes for the Wallabies to score again with Adam Ashley-Cooper the scorer after the Wallabies forwards getting on top of their counterparts. Some great vision and a lucky deflection saw Ashley-Cooper go over untouched on the right wing to make it 15-3 with Foley’s conversion attempt hitting the post.
The French narrowed the gap shortly after with Michalak adding a penalty goal to go with his earlier drop goal to make it 15-6.
With the Wallabies enjoying all the territory and possession, it seemed it would only be a matter of time before they scored again and they took advantage of quick hands to avoid the rushing French defence and centre Tevita Kuridrani flicked on a pass to Michael ‘the yabbie’ Hooper who ran to the line to be the second vice-captain to score on the night. The TMO had a look at the pass from Kuridrani and after a few viewings, it was deemed to have gone backwards in the leadup. Foley converted the try from the left wing to extend the lead to 22-6.
Michalak once again landed a penalty goal as the Wallabies made a mistake exiting their half just after the restart with Scott Fardy ruled offside just before the break but there would be more points from Australia with the French managing a bizarre stuff up on their own try line as winger Felix le Bourhuis and Maxime Machenaud got themselves in a horrible mix up and Matt Toomua was on hand to score the Wallabies fourth try of the half to make the score 29-9 at half time.
The French showed more purpose with the ball in the second half but for all their possession they couldn’t get anywhere and were often going backwards.
The Wallabies went close to being the first to score first in the second half but the TMO denied Adam Ashley-Cooper his second try of the night for not being able to ground the ball although Frederic Michalak looked never onside as he tackled Ashley-Cooper right on the line as he retreated despite about 20 viewings of the incident.
That only delayed the inevitable, as the home side opened up the French defence again with Toomua, Ashley-Cooper and Folau all involved in sending Nick Cummins over on the left wing for his bit of meat for the night.
Ewen McKenzie made multiple changes as the game entered the final quarter but the Wallabies were keen for more tries as they racked up even more line breaks to tear the French defence to shreds.
A brilliant backline move started with Beale and involved Kuridrani with Beale backing up to score the sixth try for the Wallabies. That was followed up three minutes by another Israel Folau break inside his own half and he provided the last pass to replacement winger Pat MacCabe, who had only just come onto the field, to bring up 50 on the scoreboard.
The French did manage a late surge and scored try to replacement scrum half Morgan Parra with the OK from the TMO and right on full time, their scrum pressured the Wallabies and were awarded a penalty try from referee Craig Joubert to put some respectability in the final score.
The Test series now moves to Melbourne next week with the major injury concern to Stephen Moore who will undergo scans on his knee injury.
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The Game Changer
The French looked good in the opening 15 minutes but then it all fell apart for them from that point with the Wallabies forwards getting on top and unleashing the backline and had scored four tries by half time.
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[one_half last=”yes”]
The G&GR MOTM
Michael Hooper – Was everywhere tonight and lead the forward dominance and even bagged a try.
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The Details
Crowd: 33,718
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]AUSTRALIA 50
Tries: Folau, Ashley-Cooper, Hooper, Toomua, Cummins, Beale, McCabe
Conversions: Foley 6
Penalties: Foley
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[one_half last=”yes”]FRANCE 23
Tries: Parra, Penalty try
Conversions: Michalak 2
Penalties: Michalak 2
Drop Goal: Michalak
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Cards
Nil
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