After a challenging summer tour, Fabien Galthie’s French side began their Autumn Nation Series with a comfortable win over Japan. Star-man Antoine Dupont shined in his first game for France since the Rugby World Cup.
France began life back in the French capital, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, opened the scoring just moments into the encounter. He crossed over in the corner after kicking in behind and successfully regathering after Malo Tuitama misplaced the ball. The hosts’ early dominance continued as, after a crossfield kick from Thomas Ramos, it played into the hands of Emilen Gailleton to easily cross the whitewash.
Again, There was another error in the Japanese backline, and this time, Alexandre Roumat crossed over to score. On 26 minutes, Belle-Biarrey scored his second, and this came after Ramos spotted the space on the outside with a crossfield kick and Moefana offloaded for the 21-year-old to score.
Peato Mauvaka crossed over after quick thinking at the lineout with Dupont who drew the last defender for the hooker to cross to put his side up 31-0. However, after quick thinking from tighthead Shuhei Takeuchi it put the Brave Blossoms on the front foot, but some phases followed, and the ball was lost forward, which saw an end to the half.
HT: France 31-0 Japan
It took the hosts just two minutes to add to the scoreboard. After a brilliant delayed pass from Dupont, Jean-Baptiste Gros crossed the whitewash, extending Les Bleus’s lead further.
Harumichi Tatekawa crossed over in the corner after some brilliant handling from Dylan Riley as the Brave Blossoms scored their first point of the encounter. The hosts responded accordingly through Paul Boudehent, who went quickly from the breakdown to score, which came from a brilliant break from Dupont.
After being denied 90 seconds earlier, replacement Tevita Tatfu intercepted and just about won the foot race against Bielle-Biarrey to score the visitors second. Boudehent then scored his second after some brilliant attacking skills from the hosts’ backline, which allowed the replacement to stretch over from the breakdown and put his side back in the winning circle after a disappointing end to their Summer in Argentina.
Fabien Galthie’s men will now turn their attention to New Zealand, who have made an impressive start to their Autumn Nation Series with wins over England and Ireland. For Japan, they head to the surrounding French Alps as they face Uruguay in Chambery before facing England a week later.
France 52:
Tries: Louis Bielle-Biarrey (2), Emilien Gailleton (1), Alexandre Roumat (1), Peato Mauvaka (1), Jean-Baptiste Gros (1), Paul Boudehent (2),
Conversions: Thomas Ramos (5)
Penalties:
Drop Goals:
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards:
Japan 12:
Tries: Harumichi Tatekawa (1), Tevita Tatafu (1)
Conversions: Naoto Saito (1)
Penalties:
Drop Goals:
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards:
France starting lineup: 15 Leo Barre, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Emilien Gailleton, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Thomas Ramos, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Alexandre Roumat, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Tevita Tatafu, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Mickael Guillard, 20 Paul Boudehent, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Matthieu Jalibert, 23 Gael Fickou
Japan starting lineup: 15 Malo Tuitama, 14 Jone Naikabula, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Siosaia Fifita, 11 Tomoki Osada, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa (c), 9 Naoto Saito; 8 Faula Makisi, 7 Kazuki Himeno, 6 Kanji Shimokawa, 5 Warner Dearns, 4 Epineri Uluiviti, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Mamoru Harada, 1 Takato Okabe
Replacements: 16 Kenta Masuoka, 17 Yukio Morikawa, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Amato Fakatava, 20 Tevita Tatafu, 21 Shinobu Fujiwara, 22 Yusuke Kajimura, 23 Takuro Matsunaga
Five Talking Points:
Ramos pulling all the strings
With there being a lot of talk beforehand about whether Thomas Ramos should be wearing that ten jersey over Matthieu Jalibert. All that talk was halted after two of France’s first half tries came from great vision from the 29-year-old as he put on a clini with spotted gaps in Japan’s defence.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey
The 21-year-old made an incredible start to his Autumn campaign after running riot early on in this encounter. He showed great footwork, acceleration and was applying a great amount of pressure on the Brave Blossom’s fullback who was having a bad time at the back as one of his two tries came from a mistake from Malo Tuitama.
Hard luck for Japan
Eddie Jone’s men never seemed to get going, despite having a lot of possession as they were unable to turn them into points as their opposition was far more clinical in the red zones. There was not a lot of go forward but when they did manage to showcase some skill they did so incredibly with their second try coming from a brilliant read from Tevita Tatafu who you can make the argument of why he wasn’t on the pitch from the start for the Brave Blossoms.
Try saving tackle from Theo Attissogbe
After being a late replacement for Damien Penaud, 19-year-old Theo Attissogbe did not look out of place and it can be argued that he didn’t get what he deserved which was to be on the scoreboard. However, the highlight for the late call-up was a try-saving tackle on Tevita Tatafu late on in the second-half and proved to a lot of people not to skip leg day after his calves held the ball up.
65 minutes was enough for Gold medalist Dupont
In what could be argued as the most anticipated comeback in the 15’s game for some time, Antoine Dupont made his return after winning gold at the Paris Olympic games. And he yet again proved why is up there with some of the greats in the game. From easily breaking through the visitors defence and created a lot of chances for his fellow teammates, which shows that the Dupont factor is real.
HTSPORTSNEWS 