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Fabien Galthie's France fail to convince in victory over dogged Georgia

Matthieu Jalibert celebrates with teammates after scoring a try against Georgia at The Matmut Atlantique Stadium in Bordeaux (Photo by Romain PERROCHEAU / AFP) (Photo by ROMAIN PERROCHEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

France have geared up for next weekend’s eagerly-awaited clash with New Zealand by labouring to a 41-15 victory over Georgia in Bordeaux.

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Les Bleus lacked their usual precision but prevailed on Sunday thanks to six tries – two each by flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert and hooker Peato Mauvaka, one from winger Damian Penaud and a penalty try – with fullback Melvyn Jaminet kicking the rest of the points.

Georgia responded with a Davit Niniashvili penalty, tries by Vasil Lobzhanidze and Akaki Tabutsadze and a conversion by Tedo Abzhandadze.

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Georgia resisted for half an hour but their ill-discipline cost them dear, although France failed to impress a week after an unconvincing 29-20 win over Argentina.

“The result is more than satisfactory, we scored 40 points. Obviously, the copy is not perfect. We spent a lot of time in their half without being able to score at the beginning but we were never in trouble,” said captain Antoine Dupont.

“It was good to give e veryone some playing time. Every time, the finishers bring a lot to the table. It’s positive for the future.”

France started well but lacked focus and had only Jaminet’s penalty to show for their early dominance.

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Niniashvili levelled midway through the opening half despite Georgia being down to 14 men after Tedo Abzhandadze was sin-binned for a high tackle.

Les Bleus were awarded a penalty try when Giorgi Melikidze collapsed a maul near the tryline and he picked up a yellow card as France opened a 10-3 lead.

Jalibert found space after a lineout to ground the ball near the posts, set up by Romain Ntamack in a sign that their partnership was starting to gel.

It looked virtually over before halftime when Penaud went over after a quick release by Dupont to find Gael Fickou, who set up the winger for his 11th international try.

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Hooker Julien Marchand was replaced by Mauvaka after sustaining a rib injury and props Cyril Baille and Uini Atonio were replaced by Jean-Baptiste Gros and Demba Bamba early in th e second half.

Georgia pulled a try back through Lobzhanidze but Les Bleus struck again when Mauvaka finished off strong work by their pack.

The visitors reduced the arrears again with Tabutsadze diving over on the right wing, only for Penaud to score his second at the end of quick attack from a lineout.

Georgia had nothing left in the tank and conceded another try in the dying seconds when Mauvaka grounded the ball again after being carried over the line by the dominant French pack.

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giorgi 1084 days ago

France is much better team than Georgia, but why the hell they need biased refereeing?

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AM 42 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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