Italy: Stun France... again!
Italy condemned France to a shock 23-18 Six Nations defeat at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Sunday.
It was a sensational victory for the Azzurri who have now managed to beat Les Bleus twice in the last two years following their famous win in 2011.
France - favourites to win the Championship heading into this match - must now pick themselves up for next Saturday's clash with Wales in Paris. Italy, in contrast, now have critical momentum that will serve them well when they make the trip to Edinburgh to tackle Scotland.
It's been a highly entertaining opening round of Six Nations rugby and this final hit-out of the weekend certainly didn't disappoint as both sides produced two tries apiece in a pulsating match filled with some heart-stopping moments at the death (no pun intended).
Indeed, Italy and their supporters were put through a frantic finale with France desperately seeking a late score to win the match. Despite being under sustained scrum pressure after replacement hooker Davide Giazzon was sin-binned two minutes from time, Italy held on - giving them an opening weekend Six Nations win for the first time since 2003.
Italy raced out of the starting blocks first and struck the opening blow after five minutes courtesy of sublime brilliance from fly-half Luciano Orquera. His ability to freeze the opposition defence surfaced in all its glory, with three French defenders transfixed as he broke out of Italy's half before delivering a scoring pass to captain Sergio Parisse.
Orquera's conversion made it 7-0.
Despite some resilient defensive work from Italy after keeping Florian Fritz inches out from the tryline, France spread the ball to the left and hit back through number eight Louis Picamoles who didn't need a second invitation to score.
Frederic Michalak failed to find his target, but France were on the board.
Italy were once again in territorial control, and it was that man Orquera who extended his team's lead thanks to a cheeky drop-goal and a penalty in the 15th and 18th minutes respectively (13-5).
Michalak managed to raise the flags with his first penalty attempt after Italy were pinged at scrum-time, and then put his side in front for the first time of the match after converting Benjamin Fall's try in the 33rd minute.
It was Yoann Huget who sparked the move that hauled Les Bleus level, running aggressively from just inside Italy's half to leave Fall with a clear run-in besides the posts.
The seven-pointer secured France a 15-13 lead at the break. And the big question on everyone's lips was whether Italy would keep within striking distance of their French rivals in the second half.
At first, it didn't seem that way when Michalak landing a long-range penalty.
But when prop Martin Castrogiovanni powered over after another piece of magic from Orquera, the home crowd could sense another upset on the horizon. Even more so when Orquera's conversion put Italy back in front (20-18).
Replacement pivot Kris Burton then ultimately sealed the deal with a well-struck drop-goal that meant France needed to score twice to win. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Man of the match: Italy skipper Sergio Parisse once again led from the front, but fly-half Luciano Orquera ran the show majestically - setting up two tries, kicking a drop-goal, two conversions and a penalty for a personal haul of 13 points.
Moment of the match: Take your pick! All four tries were out of the top drawer, but the final minute of the match left everyone watching this tense spectacle on the edge of their seats.
Villain of the match: Replacement hooker Davide Giazzon may have been given his marching orders, but luckily for him, it didn't prove costly.
The scorers:
For Italy:
Tries: Parisse, Castrogiovanni
Cons: Orquera 2
Pens: Orquera
Drop: Orquera, Burton
Yellow card: Giazzon (79th minute)
For France:
Tries: Picamoles, Fall
Con: Michalak
Pens: Michalak 2
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovambattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Francesco Minto, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Alberto De Marchi , 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Antonio Pavanello, 20 Paul Derbyshire, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Kristopher Burton, 23 Gonzalo Canale.
France:15 Yoann Huget, 14 Wesley Fofana, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Benjamin Fall, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Pascal Papé (c), 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Yannick Forestier
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Luc Ducalcon, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Morgan Parra, 22 Francois Trinh-Duc, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
By Dave Morris
Comments
new_j4a says...
@lacroix, WELL SAID! especially this bit "no blaming the ref from french supporters...a few irish fans should learn from that , especially with a rather bad weekend for them coming up :) "
Posted 18:20 06th February 2013
lacroix says...
well played italy- a thoroughly deserved win.
they took every chance they had to score, and defended fiercely. if italy play like that against the wales, scotland and ireland teams we saw on saturday they will win all three games with some margin. but will they play like that again?
yes, france were poor , but still created several chances to score which they spurned. and lets face it, when 5 points up, had machenaud gone to ground, quick ball would have seen france 10 or 12 points clear with less than 20 mins to go...different game then.
so i'm not sure france werecatastrophically poor...lethargic, definitely , which may be the t14 schedule haunting them...and players playing out of position certainly helped italy's first try. ducalcon should start and dusattoir and picamoles are not 100% either....nyanga should play. maybe harinordoquy too...he was magnificent losing versus toulouse the other day. but PSA will plough his furrow...and despite my reservations (grave)about his selection i think having made his choices he should not over react to this match.
none of this detracts from italy's achievement, or PSA's headaches. but i wouldnt bet agianst france winning the championship from here.
owens was excellent as usual, btw. nonsense about the last 15 mins- italy were understandably trying to kill the game. no blaming the ref from french supporters...a few irish fans should learn from that , especially with a rather bad weekend for them coming up :)
Posted 22:53 05th February 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
That's France for you. St Andre's team looked like a shapless rabble in attack and then P.S-A takes Picamoles off and I hope for his sake it was not tactical... France do what France do, all the opposition can do it look to their own performance and Italy did that very well.
I think Italy can be even prouder of this win that the one two years ago. In 2011 they profitted from a referee decision that denied France an easy match winning penalty in front of the posts. This year, there's no argument whatsoever. Italy beat France fair and square.
Posted 14:02 04th February 2013
startledwombat says...
I've just read the match report, also Loose Pass, and the four pages of comments. Here in Melbourne this game didn't make the news, but pre-season training for the Aussie Rules did, whoopee. Anyway, I was one of the critics of Brunel coming in for Mallet. On the evidence so far, I was wrong. Congratulations too to the people who selected Brunel.
Posted 11:35 04th February 2013
APV1 says...
Well that just opened the 6N right up. Will it be a GS year..? God, I love this tournament!
@ carpelone - you know we're all mediocre up here. Even the fans.
;-)
Posted 11:35 04th February 2013
J_HDK says...
Michalak was utterly abysmal for France from the kick-off... It made no sense to keep him on the pitch.Why did Parra and Trinh-Duc not start?
This was a major victory of Brunel over PSA. Some great attacking play from Italy which we have not seen before. Very half-hearted defence from France, particularly when they rushed up. Charged in then didn't commit..
Italy are usually at their most dangerous in the first round. With a win at the start.. they are really going to take it to Scotland...
Then potentially facing a disheartened Wales in Italy....?
This could be Italy's best 6N yet.
Posted 11:09 04th February 2013
Toulousain says...
hmmm mon ami leinster_goy. let's wait to see how good sexton is next 6n when he has been prepared for test matches by the T14. a season that ends in june and begins again in july. no easy games. lots of ball carriers to tackle coming round the corner at you. then a game the week before the 6n, so no time to be "in camp" with the others....
...will be interesting to see how "fresh" and "up for it" your boy will be then?
Posted 10:12 04th February 2013
jehosophat says...
I had a feeling that would happen - next time I have such a feeling I'll put money on it! France were clear favourites for the 6N and this always seems to happen when that is the case.
Italy have been looking increasingly strong recently and no side is going to see a trip to Rome as a foregone conclusion now. Some people thought that NZ and others had just had bad days at the office against Italy in the autumn, in fact Italy have turned it up a notch.
I respectfully suggested to some Scots colleagues that they were my vote for the wooden spoon this year - it's looking very possible. Next weekend is now MASSIVE for all the sides concerned - each of the 6 sides is in a "can't lose" position regarding their expectations and/or their pride. What a great championship this is proving to be already!
Posted 10:03 04th February 2013
Speartackle says...
@donguiyo says...
"all Italian points by Parisse, Castrogiovani, Orquera ....let's say Argentina 23-18 France ? Ok, and 3 by Burton (aussie)!"
Saying that who score the points is the whole team, means you don't know very much about rugby. Besides, Parisse is 100% Italian.
Posted 09:57 04th February 2013
pog_mahone says...
Congratulations Italy. Great for the competition. Is it Brunel or having teams playing in the HC and Pro12 that is making the difference? France pretty poor but will get better for the next game I suspect. Some dodgy player choices though!
Posted 09:32 04th February 2013
Iyhel says...
@RobinMasters: Parisse has been playing at Stade Français, for a probably honest amount of ¿, for a very long time yet the hunger has not left him...
Posted 08:23 04th February 2013
giomamo says...
...and who has won yesterday? WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO??????????????
Posted 07:50 04th February 2013
Stellenbosched2 says...
Well done Italy. You deserved this one. I know you can't judge the French team on one outing, but my question is simple. Are the owners of the various French club teams upset when France lose? Because there habit of buying all available rugby talent in the world for their clubs will ensure that the national side is going to lose a lot more in the future. How do you identify and develop young French players in the current French setup?
Posted 05:26 04th February 2013
5Lock4ward says...
I have to question the non-selection of Nyanga. They claim Harinorduquy wasn't picked b/c he's only recent back from injury. Well so is Dusatoir and yet he walks into the first xv? After the way Nyanga played in the Autumn tour? Strange.
Posted 01:13 04th February 2013
JamieTheProp says...
France - oh dear! The favourites tag just doesn't sit well with you does it!
That makes the Ireland v England game even more important in terms of winning the thing!
Posted 01:02 04th February 2013
passtheball says...
Stephen Jones may be Welsh born but he writes for an English audience. "The Gamekeeper turned Poacher" - that Stephen Jones.
Posted 23:43 03rd February 2013
tha_mai says...
Dannyboy, new_j4a - rankings, from IRB site: France stay 4th
"If Italy were to repeat their shock win over France when the sides last met in Rome in 2011, then the Dragons would slump to 11th ¿ their lowest ever position since the rankings were introduced in October 2003. France will only lose their position as the highest ranked northern hemisphere team if Italy win by more than 15 points on Sunday"
Posted 23:25 03rd February 2013
hayj05 says...
After I witnessed the way Italy performed against the AB's last year & I knew that Brunel was potentionally the biggest thing to happen to Italian Rugby since they entered the 6 nations.
He has completely changed the mental attitude of the Italian team & has tranformed them into a team that believes that they can attack & beat any opposition in world Rugby.
Of course I'm not naive enough to think it's going to be all roses from here on in, but I'm just so impressed by how he's managed to rid the Italians of their inferiority complex regarding their perceived standing in World Rugby.
Congrats all round Italy, awesome for the game & great to see your incredible fans being rewarded.
Posted 23:15 03rd February 2013
whatisthis says...
My team of the round before PR gets there:
1. Healy... Nobody was great. Marler was ok as well.
2. Best..by a mile
3. Castrogiovanni...Cole unlucky
4. Launchbery... McCarthy unlucky
5. Parling
6. Wood... Zanni unlucky
7. O' Brien
8. Parisse... Picamoles
9. Youngs... Care
10. Farrell... Orquera
11. Zebo
12. Twelvetrees
13. O' Driscoll
14. Ashton
15. Halfpenny
I know Italy probably deserve more than 2 but theres was more of a team effort than Ireland or England
Posted 23:13 03rd February 2013
ben7 says...
ORQUERA! sh*t he was good!
Posted 23:06 03rd February 2013