Australia defeat France in Melbourne

Australia 29 France 17

Matt Burke booted Australia to victory in Melbourne as the world champions avenged their autumn defeat by France in Marseille.

In a game completely overshadowed by the controversial selection of former rugby league winger Wendell Sailor, Burke kept his head to claim a perfect return from seven kicks at goal to finish with a personal tally of 19 points.

Fly-half Stephen Larkham was another star for the Wallabies, turning the visitors round with his fine prodding kicks and grabbing a vital second try just before the interval which left France with too much to do.

As for Sailor, he had few chances to shine, breaking downfield for one 30 metre burst, but generally keeping a low profile against a French team who tried to force play down his side of the field at every opportunity.

He was joined on the field by former Kangaroo team-mate Mat Rogers for the final 10 minutes and he came closer to scoring, dancing to within a metre as Australia pressed in the final stages.

Ironically, Sailor’s first major contribution didn’t actually involve him touching the ball.

The former Leeds Tykes winger linked into the Wallabies line as George Gregan moved the ball left at a scrum, but was only used as a dummy runner as Chris Latham exchanged passes with Stirling Mortlock to squeeze in at the corner.

It was tough luck on the French, who started brightly as they attempted to restore lost pride following their narrow defeat in Argentina last week.

Australia had been no more convincing in their scrappy win over the New Zealand Maori seven days ago and were again reliant on the deadly goalkicking of Burke to consolidate their lead.

Having exchanged early penalties with Damien Traille, Burke converted Latham’s try, then added a 17th minute penalty to give the home side a 10 point advantage which France needed to close quickly.

They did just that, young fly-half Francois Gelez landing his first two penalty chances, only to fall further behind when they stood off Stephen Larkham waiting for an offload, the fly-half instead shrugging off Nicolas Jeanjean’s poor tackle to score under the posts.

France were struggling to maintain their discipline, such a feature of their triumphant Six Nations title campaign, and when Fabien Pelous dragged down Australia’s other debutant Nathan Sharpe at an injury-time line-out, Burke stepped up to give his team a 14 point lead at the interval.

The visitors’ imposing back-row rallied at the re-start, with Olivier Magne leading the charge.

But without injured skipper Fabien Galthie, they lacked direction, Gelez exchanging penalties with Burke as Australia stood firm.

The Wallabies increased the tempo around the hour mark, impressive number eight Toutai Kefu leading the charge, although Serge Betsen brought George Smith crashing to earth with a brutal tackle.

Mortlock sidestepped into space off Larkham’s reverse pass and it needed a last-ditch tackle from Frederic Michalak to haul the winger down five metres short.

Burke banged over his fifth penalty with nine minutes remaining, although France immediately replied when Jean-Baptiste Poux burrowed his way over from close range for a French consolation.