France storm back in second half to beat Australia 42-26 in Brisbane

BRISBANE: France overturned a nine-point half-time deficit to defeat Australia 42-26 in an entertaining Nations Championship match on Saturday, scoring four tries after the break to seal their first win over the Wallabies in Brisbane since 1972.

The result came a week after France were beaten by New Zealand by two points. For Australia, it followed another match in which they held an advantage before fading late, having also led Ireland last Saturday before losing by two points.

Played before a sellout crowd of 52,000 in ideal conditions, the match began at high tempo as both teams looked to attack. France struck first in the third minute when lock Emmanuel Meafou powered over following sustained pressure. Australia responded through hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa, who crossed after a well-worked move at the front of the line-out.

France added another in the 18th minute when fly-half Romain Ntamack sent a kick through for winger Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, who beat Declan Meredith to finish in the corner. But the match shifted when Brisbane-born Meafou was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Rob Valetini, allowing Australia to make the most of the extra man.

Outstanding flanker Fraser McReight went over after burrowing through, with Lonergan converting to put the Wallabies 14-12 ahead. McReight then scored his second from the back of a rolling maul as Australia took a 21-12 lead into half-time.

Australia captain Harry Wilson said his side had put themselves in a strong position by the interval.

We were very happy going in at half-time. 21-12 up, we put ourselves in a great position there,

He added:

Then the big second half and we're learning that you need to play a good 80 minutes.

We keep losing moments and (allowing) a team like France to put on 30 unanswered points, it's not good enough.

France began the comeback through a 46-metre penalty by Maxime Lucu, before Grandidier-Nkanang scored his second try to cut the gap to 21-20. The visitors then moved ahead through Ntamack after Australia full-back Tom Wright was yellow-carded for a professional foul.

Ntamack, who was named man of the match, said France had expected a difficult contest after a demanding opening half.

Really proud of all the players,

It was a very tough first half, and we knew that it wasn't going to be easy against the Wallabies.

France stretched their lead when lock Florian Verhaeghe crashed over, with Lucu adding another penalty before right wing Theo Attissogbe scored to complete the win.

France lock Meafou said the visitors had prepared thoroughly and praised Australia's first-half effort.

It's awesome, we studied them all week and I think it was a challenge for us to come and play,

Credit to the Wallabies. That was a tough first half. We knew they weren't going to go away, but we got some good tries in the second half.

We have a lot of depth in the team, and I think that's one thing that the French do really well is kind of rotate their players and make sure everyone gets a run.

And everyone who puts on the jersey is up for it.

Ntamack said France's approach after the interval was to keep pressing forward.

Second half, we thought we needed to keep going, keep pushing, and it paid off,

Really very happy about the second half.

A late try from lock Jeremy Williams gave Australia a four-try bonus point, but the Wallabies were unable to prevent France from pulling clear in the closing stages as the speed of the visitors' attack proved decisive.