Villiere hat-trick helps France see off plucky Italy
SIX NATIONS REPORT: Wing Gabin Villiere scored three times as Six Nations contenders France beat Italy 37-10 in Paris on Sunday to move top of the table.
Player of the match Villiere claimed his third try late on for Les Bleus who go above Ireland on points difference after the opening weekend.
The Azzurri lost for a record-extending 33rd consecutive time in the tournament despite leading early in the first half thanks to debutant Tommaso Menoncello’s effort.
Before kick-off, the 62,187 crowd at the Stade de France paid their respects to former France flyhalf Guy Laporte, who died last month aged 69, with a round of applause.
One major absence from the stands was the hosts’ head coach Fabien Galthie as the former Test captain watched the game 40km away in the team hotel after testing positive for Covid-19 in midweek.
Galthie gave instructions via mobile phone to team manager Raphael Ibanez in the coaching box.
Rain fell intermittently from the third minute before Perpignan fullback Melvyn Jaminet opened the scoring with a penalty.
Neither side were able to control the game in difficult conditions before teenager Menoncello celebrated his Test debut by going over after 17 minutes to become the tournament’s youngest try scorer, aged 19 years and 170 days.
The Treviso wing, one of 18 players from the franchise in the Italy 23, dotted down centimetres from the touchline from Paolo Garbisi’s perfect cross kick after Jaminet had fumbled Stephen Varney’s box kick.
France, captained by Antoine Dupont for the first time since the scrum-alf was crowned world player of the year in December, took a grip on proceedings nine minutes later as Anthony Jelonch opened his international account.
The Toulouse flank intercepted a Varney pass to slide over on the greasy surface unopposed from 15 metres out.
Jaminet’s conversion hit the post before he and Garbisi traded penalties and Les Bleus led 11-10 after 35 minutes.
France’s advantage was extended 34 seconds into additional time of the first half as 26-year-old Villiere scored his fourth try in nine internationals.
The hosts won clean line-out ball eight metres out and the Toulon wing, who was playing in the French third-tier just four years ago, glided over in the corner.
Jaminet’s extras made it 18-10 at the break.
France continued to dominate despite the testing weather after the interval and Villiere deservedly claimed a second try after 48 minutes.
The home side won a turnover at a ruck and former seven-a-side specialist Villiere ran in from 30 metres.
Villiere’s fellow wing Damian Penaud claimed the fourth try before the man of the moment claimed the necessary points to send them above next weekend’s visitors, Ireland, with his third try, 70 seconds into additional time.
Man of the match: The award goes to France wing Gabin Villiere. The speedster terrorised the Italian defence and he scored three of his team’s five tries.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Jelonch, Villiere 3, Penaud
Cons: Jaminet 2, Ntamack
Pens: Jaminet 2
For Italy:
Try: Menoncello
Con: Garbisi
Pen: Garbisi
Teams:
France: 15 Melvyn Jaminet, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Jonathan Danty, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Gabin Villiere, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (captain), 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Dylan Cretin, 6 Anthony Jelonch, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 JeanBaptiste Gros, 18 Demba Bamba, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Francois Cros, 21 Maxime Lucu, 22 Yoram Moefana, 23 Thomas Ramos.
Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Tommaso Menoncello, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti.
Replacements: 16 Epalahame Faiva, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Giosue Zilocchi, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Giovanni Pettinelli, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Leonardo Marin.
Referee: Mike Adamson
Assistant Referees: Nika Amashukeli, Damon Murphy
TMO: Brett Cronan
