LONG READ How France ran Australia off their feet at the Suncorp

If anyone had any lingering doubts, the second round of the inaugural Nation Championship would have surely banished them. In the two biggest games at the Suncorp in Brisbane and Loftus Versveld in the thin air of Pretoria, it was the two northern hemisphere sides who did most of the attacking with ball in hand, and the pair of nations from the south who embraced a more structured approach and played the game closer to set-piece. The world has truly turned on its head.

If you don’t believe me, take a look at some of the raw stats thrown up by both games – the figures usually associated with creative output in professional rugby.

Now compare those stats with those generated by France and Scotland.

Would the inclusion of stats from the New Zealand v Italy and Argentina v Wales matches make a difference? Of course they would. But in the two most evenly-balanced and pleasingly symmetrical ties of the round between teams from the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship – it was first against third from both of the most recent tournaments – the north came out ahead in the business of playing high-quality attacking rugby.

Not only a little way ahead you understand, but on average seven and a half clean breaks, 154 post-contact metres, 16 defenders beaten and nine offloads per game out in front. That is not victory by a nose in a photo-finish, it is cantering home and easing up in the final furlong.

The match-up between the Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies and Fabien Galthié’s Bleus epitomised the contrast in stark black and white at Wally Lewis’ old stomping ground in Lang Park. Interest in the encounter had been piqued in the build-up by the selection of no fewer than three Australia-born tight forwards and two natural outside-halves in the French matchday 23.

Australian tight forwards have historical heritage as skilled ball-carriers and robust top-of-the-ground athletes, and Les Bleus included a trifecta of happy homecomings in the shape of loosehead prop Moses Alo-Emile – a Brisbane State High School and Queensland Schoolboys alumnus and brother of ex-Rebels and Junior Wallaby tight-head Paul – a product of the Queensland GPS first XV in locking leviathan Manny Meafou, and another second row off the bench in wild-mullet ‘Grizzly Bear’ Tom Staniforth, who had previously played 62 times for the Waratahs and Brumbies.

Why are all three plying their trade in the Top 14 rather than starring in Super Rugby? The short-hand is either they were undervalued, or unwanted at home. Meafou’s story was catalogued recently as part of a RugbyPass article describing the Australian aversion to oversized second rows: “I ended up going into the Waratahs for a physical and just never heard back. It was kind of a Will Skelton situation. At the time, I was just too big, and they wanted me down at a certain weight.”

It was the same for the younger of the two Alo-Emile brothers: “I moved to France because it was pretty much the only country that gave me an opportunity. I had nothing going for me over in Australia with Rugby Australia. I signed a little academy contract over there and the rest is history.” Staniforth was a Junior Wallaby 12 years ago but now he is a proud Frenchman after his senior ambitions were dashed in his country of birth: “To be honest, the kid from Canberra didn’t think this was possible. I guess this is the gift of rugby. To move to France and play in France, to build a life here. It’s not lost on me how lucky I am.”

Galthié may pass it all off with a Gallic shrug but a trio of defectors raises questions about Australian talent identification and development system in years gone by, as does the player-of-the-match display of Elisabeth Murdoch College’s Sione Tuipulotu on the highveld.

The French supremo promptly doubled down, resolving his fly-half dilemma by picking Toulousain Romain Ntamack and Girondin Matthieu Jalibert in the same starting XV, with the rouge-et-noir in his preferred number 10 jersey and the Bordelais magician shifting to full-back. This was a French colonne d’attaque primed for all-out assault in the River City, and it did not disappoint.

In the event, the experiment was a qualified success. Lukewarm with a little frisson of ‘meh’. Worth another try? Maybe. If the Springboks were on France’s tasting menu in the Nations Championship next weekend? Probably not. The main issue going in was playmaking balance. Several weeks ago, RugbyPass illustrated how Jalibert tends to get far more touches of the ball in the company of Maxime Lucu than Ntamack does with Antoine Dupont inside him.

At the Suncorp, there were some signs Ntamack could play a more prominent role, even if it meant restricting the number of occasions Jalibert could lay hands on the pill.

Ntamack’s typical production rose by 11 involvements per game, while Jalibert’s dropped by 18. The former enjoyed five tackle busts and three break or try assists, to the latter’s six and five respectively. The jury is still out on whether the experiment is worth advertising at a main theatre, or may go straight to video.

The game itself was a reversal of historical north-v-south values on attack. The Wallabies scored three first-half tries to go into the sheds with a 21-12 lead, and all three scored were derived from launches inside the French 22 – two from a brace of 50/22 lineout turnovers from the boot of Tom Wright, and a third from a breakdown penalty granting Australia a lineout starter deep in the French 22. All three scores were crafted out of the structured Schmidt ‘school of methodical detail’ – just like the Wallabies’ last hurrah in the 75^th minute. ‘Get into the red zone, by hook or by crook. Stay there until you score’.

By way of contrast, all of France’s four tries during a 30-0 second-half blitz derived from start points outside the Wallaby 22m zone, with two igniting from the French last third of the field. Schmidt termed those key 25 minutes after half-time “soul-destroying”, and for his players they were a real eye-opener. Rookie 10 Declan Meredith pointed out “they [France] put you to the wire when they have momentum; you learn that in Tests, momentum is everything in a game and it’s hard to win back”, while skipper Harry Wilson was left reeling, “still trying to put it together in my head. France won the Six Nations. They are a bloody good team, but we need to win Test matches for our country, that’s what we’re here to do.”

The plain facts are when Les Bleus asked the Wallabies to play at a higher tempo and with sustained intensity for longer, Australia found no means to answer the call. The underlying irony is a country of natural sportsmen can no longer keep pace with the best in Europe when the heat is really turned up. The north played in the best tradition of the south and the south could not live with it.

This ultimate turning-of-the-tables began with a long-range kick return try in the 49^th minute.

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 12, 2026

First Ntamack canters out of his own 22 on the counter, but it is UBB which oils most of the wheels thereafter: three key contributions from Jalibert as a runner and playmaker, two coruscating cleanouts by bench hooker Maxime Lamothe, one crucial break down the right by Yoram Moefana to fan the flames.

As the half progressed the French kick-chase consistently outran and outnumbered the Wallaby receiving team.

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 12, 2026

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 12, 2026

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 12, 2026

The numbers equation is favouring France on chase rather than Australia on receipt in all three of those clips, forcing errors out of the Wallabies and resulting in a score on the very next play from lineout in the second instance.

The visitors’ ability to dominate the long-range kicking and kick-chase duels, their sheer running power and the confidence in their attacking skillsets from any part of the field were far, far too much for the hosts to handle.

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— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) July 12, 2026

Once again, it’s four on three in favour of France on chase, which means no return by hand for the Wallabies and the better chance of a workable counter for Les Bleus on the subsequent play. It’s the Bordelais thread which is leading France back out into the light at national level; embedded in Jalibert’s vision of the possibilities, first on the left at 55:30, then on the right 15 seconds later; woven through Marko Gazzotti’s in-pass and recovery cleanout on the left at 55:40, and Jefferson Poirot’s pull-back pass in midfield and re-ruck on the right as play approaches the Australian goal-line. If Gazzotti was not homme-du-match, it must have been his club colleague Moefana.

In the two prime clashes between Six Nations and Rugby Championship rivals, it was Europe which showed the greater attacking flair and ambition, maybe for the first time in the history of July tours. Scotland were very good in Pretoria, but France were better in Brisbane.

While an experimental Springbok side struggled with the Scottish addiction to sustained offensive tempo, the worry for the Wallabies is they are currently struggling with the changes of momentum so typical of the modern game, at least not under Schmidt. Galthié’s France surfed those shifts at the Suncorp, while the Wallabies trod water. Will Dave Rennie and Sir Graham Henry be making assiduous notes before the ‘Greatest Rivalry’ tour of South Africa kicks off in August? Oh yes, you can be sure they will.