Football story by Fred Smith, Mon, 27 Feb 2006 03:16:01 GMT


France did manage to beat Italy 37-12, but it was not a convincing win and as has been the case for much of the Six Nations campaign, the French team failed to impress.

Thomas Lievremont scored a good try in the first half that will be remembered for a lackluster display from either side. But it was Italy who went 12-6 into the break thanks to four kicks by Ramiro Pez. France finally woke up after Yannick Nyanga crossed in the corner and put his team ahead for the first time in the game.

Pieter de Villiers, Aurelien Rougerie and Frederic Michalak all got in tries to effectively bundle Italy out of the game. It was in the last 15 minutes that the final three tries went in for France to add some authority to the score line. Stade de France was silent when the Azzuri took the lead into the break, but there were relieved smiles at the end. However, France will have to improve drastically if they are to challenge England on March 12.

France fullback Thomas Castaignede admitted that there was a lot of scope for improvement, "In the next game against England if we want to win we will have to do much better than we did today," he said. But France coach Bernard Laporte claimed that his side were in control now, "In the first half we were fragile and we had our problems," he said "In the second our persistence eventually helped us score the tries we wanted to score. I want to say well done to the public for singing the Marseillaise so well and also for getting behind the team."

Italy coach Pierre Berbizier admitted that he was disappointed with the loss, "We occupied the field well in the first half but in the second half we could not keep it up. We made it too easy for France by making too many simple mistakes and they were able to capitalize on our errors and we were logically punished for them," he said.

Match Details
Referee: A Spreadbury (England).

France: Castaignede; Rougerie, Fritz, Traille, Dominici; Michalak, J-B Elissalde; Milloud, Ibanez, De Villiers; Pelous (capt), Thion; Nyanga, Magne, Lievremont.
Substitutes: Bruno, Marconnet, Nallet, Bonnaire, Yachvili, Marty, Heymans.

Italy: Stoica; Canavosio, Canale, Mi Bergamasco, Nitoglia; Pez, Griffen; Perugini, Ongaro, Nieto; Del Fava, Bortolami (capt); Sole, Ma Bergamasco, Parisse.
Substitutes: Festuccia, Lo Cicero, Castrogiovanni, Bernabo, Zanni, Picone, Galon.

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