BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Romain Ntamack returned for France and orchestrated a huge comeback as the Six Nations titlists turned a 21-12 halftime deficit into a 42-26 victory over Australia on Saturday in the second round of the rugby Nations Championship.
Winger Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang chimed in with two tries on debut, including the first of the second half that triggered a run of 30 consecutive points that set the French on course for a fourth straight win over the Wallabies.
It was France’s first win over Australia in Brisbane since 1972, and it consigned the Wallabies to a sixth consecutive test loss.
Ntamack missed the tournament-opening 34-32 loss to New Zealand but was instrumental in a dominant attacking performance from the French in the second half.
“Really proud of the team,” Ntamack said through a translator. “Very tough first half. Second half, we kept pushing and it paid off. Really happy with the second half.”
Australia also surrendered a 12-point lead against Ireland last week before losing 33-31 in Sydney.
“We were very happy going into halftime. Put ourselves in a great position … (but) France put on 30 unanswered points. It’s not good enough,” Australia captain Harry Wilson said in a post-match TV interview. “We let (our supporters) down, we let ourselves down with a second half like that.
“We’re gutted, we’re hurting.”
France will travel to Tokyo to play Japan next week. The Wallabies will go to Perth, Western Australia, to take on Italy, which is coming off losses to Japan and New Zealand.
Game of halves
The French led twice in the first half but trailed at the break against a Wallabies lineup that used a one-man advantage to score two tries.
In an eventful first half for Emmanuel Meafou, who grew up in Australia before moving to France to pursue a professional contract, he scored the opening try in the third minute and also received the yellow card and spent 10 minutes on the sidelines.
Australia responded six minutes later following a trick lineout move involving hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa throwing to scrumhalf Ryan Lonergan at the front, getting the return pass and starting the movement that finished with him scoring.
France went ahead again in the 18th when Grandidier-Nkanang beat rookie Australian flyhalf Duncan Meredith in the chase for Ntamack’s perfectly-weighted stab kick into the left corner from 30 meters out.
In the 25th, with France leading 12-7, Meafou was carded for making head-on-head contact with Australian backrower Rob Valentini and that gave the Wallabies extra space to attack.
Flanker Fraser McReight scored twice, both from close-range, and also saved a try just before halftime when he beat a flying Matthieu Jalibert in a race for the ball into the in-goal.
Second-half surge
Three tries in a seven-minute span, including two when Australian fullback Tom Wright was on the sidelines for a yellow card, swung momentum fully in favor of the back-to-back Six Nations champions.
The burst of scoring started in the 49th when the French used numbers out wide and Jalibert kicked wide for an unmarked winger Grandidier-Nkanang to score in the corner.
France took the lead with a solo try from Ntamack, who ran down the short side from about 22-meters out, dummied, palmed off a defender and crashed over in a tackle in the 52nd, and conversion from skipper Maxime Lucu.
The French kept applying the pressure and turned big advantages in possession and territory into points before the result was beyond Australia’s reach.
Florian Verhaeghe and Theo Attissogbe also scored before Australia crossed for a late consolation try that slightly reduced the margin but not the local concern over the Wallabies’ run of nine losses in 10 tests.
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