France captain Antoine Dupont led his side to a 73-24 rout of hosts Italy as they ran in 11 tries in an action-packed Six Nations triumph on Sunday, bouncing back in style from their one-point loss to England in their last game a fortnight ago.
Dupont was at his imperious best as he directed matters at the Stadio Olimpico and scored two tries, as did fullback Leo Barre as France got their biggest-ever win in the competition.
The other French tries were shared among Mickael Guillard, Peato Mauvaka, Paul Boudehent, Gregory Alldritt, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Theo Attissogbe and Pierre-Louis Barassi while Thomas Ramos booted eight conversions and substitute Maxime Lucu one.
Italy had opened the try scoring through Tommaso Menoncello in the 12th minute with his centre partner Juan Ignacio Brex dotting down their other first-half try.
Paolo Garbisi contributed a try midway through the second half and kicked over the conversion while Tommaso Allan booted over a penalty and two conversions.
France were 35-17 ahead at the end of a helter-skelter first half which started as a competitive contest before wave after wave of attacks dismantled home resistance after the break.
It made for a 97-point bonanza, just short of the record of 103 points for a Six Nations match set when England beat Italy 80-23 at Twickenham in 2001, although the 14 tries in Sunday’s clash is a record for the competition.
The visitors, who opened the Six Nations campaign with a 43-0 pasting of Wales, scored five tries in the first half through a combination of sniping running and clever offloads from Dupont and the power of the pack with Guillard, Mauvaka and Boudehent all powering through Italian defenders to score.
Alldritt saw France pick up where they left off after the break with a try off the back of a lineout before coach Fabien Galthie, with a 7-1 forwards/backs split on the bench, brought on six forwards eight minutes into the second half.
While the forwards’ fresh legs added to the onslaught, it was darting runs through the middle and offloading between backs that saw France add three more tries for Bielle-Biarrey, Dupont and Barre in a 15-minute spell up to the 65th-minute mark.
Garbisi’s effort came from Italy’s lone attack in the second half but France finished off the game with two more tries through Attissogbe and Pierre-Louis Barassi.
“It was tough at the start but we were able to keep up the intensity for the 80 minutes which is not easy against this Italian team, so we can be proud,” Dupont said.
“We made a lot of mistakes against England but today it was much better as we scored on each [attacking] occasion.”
Italy held France to a 13-13 draw in last year’s Six Nations clash in Lille and might have won had Garbisi not missed a last-gasp kick but this time they were no match for a rampant France, even without the visitors’ suspended flyhalf Romain Ntamack.
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