Dupont the star again as France run in seven
HOW good is Antoine Dupont? France counted the ways at least three times in the opening half-hour.
The livewire No.9 made three tries and stopped an Italian opportunity in its tracks with a perfectly judged tackle as Les Bleus made light work of a match that had a high awkward potential.
Thirty minutes later, he walked off the pitch with a try of his own, another assist – and the first of, no doubt, many Six Nations player of the match awards under his belt.
Italy’s afternoon was summed up seven minutes before the end of the first half when Montanna Ioane thought he had scored following a brilliant break from scrum-half Stephen Varney, flatfooting Dupont in the five-metre channel, only to have it ruled out for a forward pass.
By then France had scored three times.
That was the Azzurris’ day all over. They had huffed and puffed, worked hard and often troubled the French defence, particularly with some smart play around the rucks. But they only had a Garbisi penalty for their efforts until Luca Sperandio’s solo try on 66 minutes.
Shortly after Italy’s only try, France forwards coach William Servat passed the message to the players that they were to, simply, “enjoy yourselves”.
Italy’s Franco Smith had followed in rival coach Fabien Galthie’s model and selected a squad long on potential and short on experience. Italy’s squad averaged 24 years and nine caps; France’s 25 and 17.
The Azzurris’ entire
backline had fewer Test appearances than France’s 25-cap scrum-half Dupont.
The crucial difference lay in the gametime at club level. Even when France fielded a side with just 68 international caps in the Autumn Nations Cup final, that figure hid a wealth of Top 14 experience. Many in Italy’s side at Stadio Olimpico did not have that to fall back on.
It was one of their fearless innocents, Juan Ignacio Brex, who made the first break of the day, blasting deep into French country. But, isolated, he gave up the penalty that led to France’s opening try.
A quick tap penalty, a near-undefendable stepping run from Teddy Thomas, and a perfect pass from Dupont later, Dylan Cretin scored his first try for France.
Twenty minutes afterwards, France’s forwards had Italy in bother with a maul move from a lineout that had nothing other than savage intent at its heart. Dupont kicked ahead, off his wrong foot, and Gael Fickou gathered to score.
Then came the most outrageous of Dupont’s assists – a floated reverse offload for centre Arthur Vincent to join Cretin on one international try. The offload and the score came after Dupont had hacked on a loose Italian pass, and winger Gabin Villiere collected and offloaded back to the rapidly-advancing scrum-half.
Italy survived the rest of the half unscathed, but nine minutes into the second half the onslaught continued. Brice Dulin gathered a kick just outside his 22 and ran into the acres of space ahead of him. Breaking the line, he passed to Villiere, who kicked ahead, and Dulin, continuing his run, gathered and raced over.
Three minutes later, it was Dupont’s turn to score. Clean lineout ball found its way to Thomas in midfield. He burned past Brex and popped an inside pass to Dupont to score.
Dupont returned the favour, collecting a pass from Jalibert and feeding Thomas for a canter to the line. Sperandio’s try at least meant it was not all oneway traffic but Thomas scored a second to kick off France’s campaign in style.