LILLE, France — The French national rugby team solidified their position as frontrunners for the Six Nations Championship with a hard-fought 33-8 victory against Italy on Sunday. Despite occasional lapses in discipline, Fabien Galthié’s squad secured their third consecutive tournament win while demonstrating both offensive brilliance and defensive resilience.
The match at Stade Pierre-Mauroy witnessed France establishing early dominance with three first-half tries. Lightning-quick winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey, lock Emmanuel Meafou, and versatile flyhalf Thomas Ramos all crossed the try line before halftime, with star scrumhalf Antoine Dupont orchestrating two of these scoring opportunities.
After building a commanding 19-0 lead within thirty minutes, France’s performance became somewhat disjointed as tactical indiscipline allowed Italy back into contention. Italian fullback Ange Capuozzo capitalized on this shift in momentum with an opportunistic try, complemented by a Paolo Garbisi penalty, narrowing the deficit to 19-8.
The scoreboard remained unchanged until the 71st minute when Ramos executed a precision kick to the right corner, enabling debutant winger Gaël Dréan to score his first international try. This crucial score occurred while Italy faced numerical disadvantages, with winger Louis Lynagh—son of Australian rugby legend Michael Lynagh—serving a sin-bin penalty for a deliberate knock-on.
Controversy emerged as Italy’s substitutes expressed frustration over Dréan’s try, arguing they were effectively reduced to 13 players since Capuozzo remained off-field receiving treatment for a shoulder injury. France sealed their bonus-point victory when center Emilien Gailleton demonstrated impressive physicality by breaking through a tackle to score in the final moments, with Ramos adding the conversion.
With five tries scored in this match, France continues to showcase their offensive prowess, having accumulated 19 tries throughout the tournament thus far. This positions them favorably to challenge their own championship record of 30 tries established last year.