Wallabies romp home against France

[robyn <3]

A stunning all round performance, spearheaded by a twenty point haul from Man of the Match Matt Giteau, saw the Qantas Wallabies rack up a record 40 – 10 victory against France in Brisbane tonight.

The thirty point victory broke the previous largest margin of 23 points which Australia established in the 1999 Rugby World Cup final...

rugby.com.au | Wallabies lead Fance 26 - 3 at half time in Brisbane

[force addict]

Fantastic game. France were good in parts. Shame there wasn't really much of a contest but a great game all the same

[robyn <3]

it was a brilliant effort from the boys
loose ball was a little bit... 'sloppy' as kearnsie and co said a million times. they dominated there but otherwise that was a wallaby game and a half

they make me so proud

[chook]

What a crap game. France didn't turn up. Everybody kept dropping the ball. Gits was the only good player on the park. Lachie played like crap, dropping the ball at least 5 times. Beanz was semi ok. Scrum was good 80% of the time. Thats the only good bit, 2 against the head.

I give up on Wallaby rugby. Give me the Barbars any day.

[travelling_gerry]

And the big X had a blinder.

[chook]

big X had it easy. With Gits on fire he had to do no work at all. A blind 3 legged sloth could do the same job with the same panache. Not to take anything away from his performance. He had to put the ball down and thats pretty tough to do. Worst game of rugby I've seen in years. IF Gits had not been there the Frogges would have lost by about 15 instead.
They should have seen he was the linchpin early on and taken his bloody head off if they were smart but they punched Horwill instead.

[robyn <3]

mortlock should be very scared of 'the big X'

[Darren]

Western Force 30, France 10 We're carrying the Wallabies ....

[travelling_gerry]

Include the 2 tries set up by Gits and you could say 40..

[robyn <3]

without the force, australian rugby would be LOST!

[laura]

Wallabies romp to 40-10 win over France
AAP - July 5, 2008, 11:25 pm

Wallabies playmaker Matt Giteau regained his mojo to spearhead an injury-hit Australia to a record 40-10 Test blitz of France at Suncorp Stadium.

Giteau set up all four Australian tries and kicked eight from eight with the boot for a personal haul of 20 points to ensure a 2-0 series whitewash for the Wallabies.

But the improved Australian display was heavily tarnished by injuries, tragically highlighted by a broken fibula to luckless replacement back Cameron Shepherd.

Centre Berrick Barnes (shoulder) and lock James Horwill (eye socket) were also ordered to hospital for precautionary scans as reserve Ryan Cross flashed over for two second-half tries from Giteau cut-out passes.

Horwill was later cleared of any fracture.

Coach Robbie Deans was well pleased with the performance but wasn't getting overly excited with Australia's Tri-Nations campaign to start in a fortnight against South Africa.

"We're very conscious that the next arena will be very different," Deans said.

"It will be another level, there's no doubt about that."

Expected to put up a much stiffer fight than in the 34-13 loss in Sydney last weekend, the French were their own worst enemies throughout the match.

Terrible first-half ball handling was compounded by ill-discipline under immense Australian pressure at the breakdown, while the visitors also conceded a tight-head to the Wallabies scrum.

"I think (France) were looking forward to their vacation. That's harsh but fair," Deans said.

"We created opportunities and we took those opportunities and there were many more that we didn't take as well.

"But they don't give you points, they were physical and the casualty ward shows that."

Shepherd's fracture, sustained when tackled at the end of a half-break, is a heart-breaking blow to the man who was expected to be Australia's fullback for the Tri-Nations.

The Wallabies selectors will announce their squad for the series on Monday and have to think long and hard about who to include as cover for Adam Ashley-Cooper who was solid in the No.15 jersey.

The 30-point victory eclipsed the Wallabies' 35-12 1999 World Cup final win as their biggest over Les Bleus.

Australia's highest-paid rugby player, Giteau, who produced one of his most forgettable halves of Test rugby last week, was on song from the outset.

He set up the Wallabies' first try after six minutes with a perfect cross-field kick for in-form local winger Peter Hynes to score a cherished maiden Test five-pointer in front of his 40,218-strong home crowd.

Giteau kicked four first-half penalties and when he spun his way through the defence before flicking a pass to Horwill in the 36th minute, Australia were as good as home at 26-0.

Horwill finished the brilliant try by borrowing from the blond-haired flyhalf's diving playbook.

"It was dreadful, I'd give him one or two (out of 10 for the dive). I think the crowd liked it a lot more than the rest of the team," Giteau chirped.

It was a wild brawl just before halftime that ended Horwill's night and showed some of Les Bleus' renowned passion still existed in their last game of a long season.

The abrasive lock copped a flurry of Imanol Harinordoquy upper-cuts after running into a fracas between hooker Stephen Moore and the French flankers.


Wallabies romp to 40-10 win over France Australian Sport - Yahoo!7 Sport

[slomo]

gits all class. crossy all class....

[chook]

As classy as you can get by being at the end of passes by Gits who was on fire. Turner did better than Xross and he played like a Wallaby with poo in its eyes.

[Thequeerone]

Betting Mitchell gets a call up or the next test - Sharpe will be back and Brown will be on the bench

[Thequeerone]

Chook I wouldn't give up on Aus Rugby Yet - Deans has made even Mortlock feel worried about keeping his spot - so they'll all come out harder and with a couple of weeks training under their belts a little bit sharper on the skills front.

Best of all Chook - you'll have the added bonus of seeing a couple more Force Players in the mix to give the the skill base they need for finesse