Fly-half Matt Giteau spearheaded Australia to a record 40-10 victory over France in the second Test at Lang Park yesterday.
It was a black night for French rugby, with Australia posting their biggest-ever victory over the French, eclipsing their 35-12 triumph in the 1999 World Cup final in Cardiff.
Giteau was in mercurial form and could do no wrong in providing the final pass for all of Australia’s four tries and landing all his eight goal attempts — four conversions and four penalties for a match tally of 20 points.
The Wallabies’ huge victory came on top of their previous week’s 34-13 win which was then the biggest winning margin over France in Australia before it was superseded yesterday.
French coach Marc Lievremont brought in seven new faces and made a total of 10 positional changes for the Brisbane Test, but if anything their performance was worse than the previous week in Sydney.
France have not won in Australia since their 28-19 victory in Sydney in 1990, which was four tours ago.
But Australia paid a price for the runaway win, with replacement back Cameron Shepherd suffering a confirmed broken left leg in the final minute and lock James Horwill (eye) and center Berrick Barnes (shoulder) taken to hospital for precautionary x-rays.
Giteau was the clear-cut man-of-the-match and had his best match in three outings under new coach Robbie Deans.
France scored their only try in the final minute, with fly-half Sebastien Trinh-Duc backing up a break from full-back Benjamin Thiery.
Giteau was in dynamic form from the outset and put in a pinpoint cross-field kick for right-winger Peter Hynes to score unopposed in the sixth minute. He was again at his best in the lead-up to Horwill’s 36th-minute try.
Giteau stepped past prop Pierre Correira’s lunging tackle and delivered an exquisite flick pass for Horwill to charge away and score with a spectacular swan dive under the cross bar.
Giteau could not miss a kick and landed four penalties and two conversions from as many attempts in the opening half.
The French had a dire opening 40 minutes, but the game exploded just a minute before halftime when Australian hooker Stephen Moore and blindside flanker Matthieu Lievremont came to blows.
The brawl escalated and Horwill was on the receiving end of several blows from France No.8 Imanol Harinordoquy, leaving an awful mess of his left eye.
New Zealand referee Paul Honiss penalized Horwill for escalating the incident and then advised him to go to the sideline to seek medical attention for his bloodied eye.
Trinh-Duc kicked France’s first points after the siren as the Wallabies went in at halftime emphatic 26-3 leaders.
Center Ryan Cross scored just minutes after coming on as a replacement in the 57th minute off a line-out win, as the hosts carried on where they left off.
Giteau again provided the pass and Cross brushed off an ineffectual tackle from Trinh-Duc to streak into the clear and carry Alexis Palisson’s tackle to score Australia’s third converted try.
The French lost replacement back Benjamin Boyet to the sin bin for a late tackle on debutant Lachlan Turner as the Australians made further inroads into the tiring French defense.
Giteau again was in the action when he floated a pass to Cross and he got a try double.
But the game ended on a sour note when Shepherd was stretchered off with his serious leg injury, as the French were celebrating their only try of a dismal and bleak night.
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