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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 1333 days ago

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

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Soliloquin 8 minutes ago
Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

I doubt that.

The Junior Springboks, as well as the English youngters last year, seem to be a level above.

The back 3 is phenomenal, really outstanding with Pead, and the rest of the team seems very solid on the fundamentals.

And it’s not like they haven’t been tested at a higher level: they played the 6 Nations second team and they’ve won it with a good margin, while England struggled to defeat Australia, smashed by SA 10 days back.

Of course, it can all be relative as usually in sports, especially in rugby.


U20 France seems more balanced than last year, but they lack the experience of a few Top14 seasoned players like Reus or Castro-Ferreira.

On the other hand, they’re probably more fresh.

The issue seems to be the same as last year - less talent than the 2003 team, less leaders and less experience. The defense is more frail, but yesterday, they might have wanted the Argentinians to get the bonus point in order to have the Red Roses out of the competition.


And yet, they’re still a very good team, that can score from anywhere.

They’ve lost a few key players to injuries like Akrab (crown player of the U20 Nations) or Leveque yesterday, I hope it’s not too serious, with other guys out of the tournament in the previous games.

Against NZ, I think they can go past. But against SA, I can’t see them containing the supertalents from behind.


Last year, the English pack was out of this earth, with a very solid backline. And in the atrocious weather conditions of the final, they marched on the French pack with their sheer power, with no options for the creative players in the back to express themselves.

We’ll see this year!


But honestly, for now, the Junior Springboks seem to be the very exciting and deserving team they’re displaying in the competition.

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