Destructive Damian Penaud and a dusting of magic from Matthieu Jalibert helped France complete an unbeaten Autumn Nations Series and perfect 2022 with a 35-17 victory over Japan.
There had been tougher assignments for France in November, with Australia and South Africa overcome by less than a score prior to this encounter, but they had to be on their game against the Brave Blossoms, who trailed by just 11 points for much of the second half.
Penaud scored in each half and Jalibert provided a spark from the replacements bench in an otherwise quiet second period to see France home at Stadium de Toulouse as they made it 10 wins out of 10 in the calendar year.
There was a torrential downpour prior to kick-off but Japan were in no mood to let the weather affect their game plan.
Within a minute, No.8 Kazuki Himeno spotted a gap in the French defensive line and made a darting run which very nearly handed the visitors a dream start.
They were held up, albeit illegally, and showed their ambition by opting to go for touch from wide rather than settling for three points, though were left to rue that decision when possession was squandered from the lineout on a day where their scoring opportunities were few and far between.
France soon found their rhythm but their first score came somewhat fortuitously. A deft grubber kick from Romain Ntamack found Penaud, who kicked on towards the Japanese line.
Ryohei Yamanaka could only get one hand to the bouncing ball, allowing Penaud to swoop in behind and dot down as the dead-ball line approached.
That score was his second of the Autumn Nations Series and took him to joint-tenth on the list of France’s all-time try scorers.
Thomas Ramos was the leading points scorer going into Round 3 and though he missed wide to the right with his conversion attempt, he soon added to France’s lead with a pair of penalties.
Japan then registered their first points through Lee Seung-Sin after Ntamack had put his side under pressure – choosing to run the ball out when he may have been better off kicking downfield.
From the restart the fly-half, playing in his hometown, kicked out on the full, perhaps still reeling from his poor decision a couple of minutes previously.
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With Antoine Dupont absent and Ntamack slightly off-colour, it was left to the pack to drive the team forwards and they did just that on the half-hour mark before Ramos added a third penalty to make it 14-3.
And it was a Dupont-like break from stand-in Maxime Lucu that led to France’s second score, with the scrum-half picking up a loose ball, haring through a crowd of bodies and unleashing Charles Ollivon to stroll home, who himself was taking the reins as captain in the absence of the suspended Dupont, as France took a 21-3 lead into the interval.
Just as the first half had started, Japan were able to exploit space on the fringes after the break but this time they were able to cross as Shogo Nakano tore clear before passing on to Naoto Saito, who cleverly dived for the line from a few metres out, using the wet surface to protect the ball and guarantee the score.
Japan huffed and puffed from there but were unable to break through, with Les Bleus holding them at arm’s length throughout an uneventful third quarter.
It was a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man for the hosts, when Jalibert, recently introduced, hunted down his own chip-kick and raced into the Japan 22.
He managed to find fellow replacement Bastien Chalureau as the try-line neared, but the second row was stopped inches short.
France had numbers out wide though and a score was inevitable. Jonathan Danty’s miss-pass found Sekou Macalou and he unselfishly teed up Penaud for his second score.
But the Japan response was immediate, with a neat line-out routine ending with a try for Siosaia Fifita after a clever inside ball from captain Atsushi Sakate.
The French support were on their feet to applaud the Jalibert’ genius for a final time as full-time approached, as he claimed yet another dink before Anthony Jelonch touched down a phase later to put the seal on a historic year for French rugby.
