I will admit to having missed the first half, a girl's got to sleep sometimes, and Sky had been lying about where they were broadcasting it, so I taped a load of golf instead of rugby - thanks Sky!
But, really it sounds from the commentary that I didn't miss much, it ended 6-6 and was scrappy as anything.
In the second half really Australia only threatened for about 10 minutes, but they scored a hatful of tries, plus there was an interception try when the French tried to throw the ball about to get back into the match. The Australian scrum stood up OK to the French, but at ruck and maul seemed to get the upper hand most times. Inexperienced back row vs. Waugh and Smith is not a fair contest, and whilst Elsom is not in the same league of experience he was there all the time too.
Robbie Deans will be impressed with his team's defense, there were a couple of periods of concerted pressure, pretty much right on the line, where Australia kept the French at bay. It's hard to be 100% certain of how it might have been different, but I couldn't help but wonder if France, with different forwards and different backs would have played those phases differently and scored some points - but then we'd have had a totally different game. I think, to be honest, what showed was that the forwards didn't really trust the backs, and whilst it's not good form to pick out a single player for making mistakes, there were a couple of potentially good, one great, moves that fell apart with a spilled ball.
Next week - well France are still France and wildly unpredictable. But I think Australia will feel, as a team, that they've got what it takes to stop the French scoring, and that they can score against them. One thing that does need to be said though, Plaisson was the only try scorer for Les Bleus. He's tiny and he went straight through Mortlock in a way that few players ever do. If the French manage to be a bit faster and more precise, they do have the weapons to score.
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