INTERNATIONAL RUGBY: French Take on Australians

27.11.2010
Australia v France in Paris

Venue: Stade de France

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)

Preview
There is so much resting on the result of this match for both teams. Australia will be looking to pick this tour up off the ground after defeats against England and then a wobbly win over Italy, has dumped this side to rock bottom in confidence. Questions are still being asked about their front five who have struggled on this tour.

France is looking to round off their November series 3-0 going into the 6 Nations Championship in February. Building combinations has been the French coaches aim and, unusually, he has made only a few changes from the side that overcame Argentina last weekend. Bad news for them is the last withdrawl of Lionel Nallett with a back injury.

For Australia it's time to step up and dominate a game as they did against the All Blacks in Hong Kong. They can do it!

The weather forecast is very cold and for light snow.

Last Five Encounters
27.06.2009 Australia 22-6 in Sydney
22.11.2008 Australia 18-13 in Paris
05.07.2008 Australia 40-10 in Brisbane
28.06.2008 Australia 34-13 in Sydney
05.11.2005 France 26-16 in Paris

France has not defeated Australia since 2005, four encounters ago.

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Australia 2nd, France 6th

IRB Rugby Ranking Points
Australia 85.90, France 83.21

Prediction: Very close, Australia by 4 points.

Teams

France
15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Damien Traille, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, Capt. 5 Jerome Thion, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jerome Schuster, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Fabrice Estebanez, 22 Marc Andreu.
Head Coach: Marc Lievremont

Australia
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements:16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Benn Robinson, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Scott Higginbotham, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Lachie Turner.
Head Coach: Robbie Deans