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Fly half Frederic Michalak put on a solid kicking display to help France beat Italy 32-10 in the opening match of their 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign at Twickenham on Saturday night in Pool D. More than half of France’s points came from the boot of Michalak, who had 19 points on the night, including five penalties and two conversions.
Though the winning margin at the end was a healthy 22 points, the match turned out to be a scrappy affair between the two sides in which Michalak’s kicking was the only constant high point. The match also was ill-tempered with a lot of pushing and shoving and arguing between the French and the Italians, making it tough for referee Craig Joubert to maintain discipline.
The physically taxing match also claimed a few victims through injury. Italy lost Andrea Masi in the 11th minute and was replaced by Enrico Bacchin while France though arguably suffered the bigger loss when winger Yoann Huget was forced off in the 54th minute with a nasty injury, the player visibly in pain.
France had control of the match for much of the time though and early in the second half looked like they were going to run away with the game as Italy were in sixes and sevens defensively. Prop Rabah Slimani touched down for France’s first try as he latched on to a smart ground pass from Michalak.
Slimani’s replacement, Nicolas Mas, then ended up scoring the second to put the result beyond doubt.
Italy’s only try was scored by winger Giovanbattista Venditti who after a phase of much scrapping and clawing managed to push the ball over the line for the try.
As mentioned the scrappy nature of the contest meant that fouls were a plenty. The Italians gave away 19 penalties to France’s 17. Despite having more possession, the Italians didn’t make use of their time with the ball with the French defence holding strong.
Frenchman Michalak after his stirring performance is now one step closer to becoming France’s all time highest point scorer in world cup history as he stands just three points away from Thierry Lacroix’s record of 124 points.
The record is seemingly just a formality now and likely to come in France’s next game against Romania on Wednesday at the Olympic Park in London. Italy head off to Leeds to play Canada.
