France booked their spot in next weekend’s Autumn Nations Cup final with an impressive 36-5 victory over Italy in Paris on Saturday.
A much-changed French outfit – containing just two starters from the win over Scotland in Round 2 – opened the scoring through Matthieu Jalibert’s second-minute penalty but Italy crossed for the first try of the game as Carlo Canna dotted down.
France were back in front by the interval as Jonathan Danty marked his first international appearance for more than four years with a try and Fabien Galthie’s men pulled away after the break.
Gabin Villiere, Baptiste Serin and Teddy Thomas all crossed within the space of eight second half minutes as France ruthlessly exploited Jacopo Trulla’s yellow card to put the result beyond doubt before Sekou Macalou added a late fifth.
The victory wrapped up top spot for France in Group B following an unbeaten competition to date and Les Bleus will now battle it out with England at Twickenham for the right to be crowned the first ever Autumn Nations Cup champions.
