Five-try France start fast and power past Italy to keep Grand Slam on track

TOUCHING DOWN: Emmanuel Meafou of France dives over the line to score his team's second try whilst under pressure from Louis Lynagh of Italy during the Guinness Six Nations 2026 match between France and Italy at Stade Pierre Mauroy on February 22, 2026 in Lille, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Six Nations: France 33 Italy 8

France scored three tries in the opening 30 minutes before going on to record a comfortable 33-8 victory over Italy on Sunday and keep up their winning run in this year’s Six Nations.

France lead the standings with 15 points from second-placed Scotland on 11 and are in a strong position to retain the title. Italy remained in fifth place on five points.

France burst into a 19-0 lead at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy with tries from Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Emmanuel Meafou and Thomas Ramos to put them comfortably ahead before Ange Capuozzo dotted down for Italy to make it 19-8 at halftime.

Debutant winger Gael Drean and centre Emilien Gailleton added two more French tries in the second half.

Ramos converted four of the five tries while Paolo Garbisi put over a penalty for the visitors.

France took the lead early as captain Antoine Dupont’s kick in behind the Italian defence allowed Bielle-Biarrey to chase and score for a record-breaking eighth Six Nations game in a row.

French fullback Theo Attissogbe and Italian winger Louis Lynagh duelled on the halfway line under an Italian high kick, with Lynagh knocking it back where Dupont collected the ball before kicking it on.

The second try came in the 15th minute as France drove at the Italian line with Ramos and then Drean stopped metres from the try line, before Meafou used his power to go over and score his first test try.

The lead was stretched in the 29th minute as a poor throw from Giacomo Nicotera in front of the French 22-metre line allowed Gailleton to pounce on the loose ball and try to break before passing inside to Ramos, who dived over in the corner.

Italy reduced the gap before the break as Ramos and then Attissogbe were snagged in front of their own try line with the ball spilling for Capuozzo to react quickest and touch down with a cheeky touch.

It took until eight minutes from the end for France to get a fourth try with Ramos kicking out to his right wing, where Drean went over in the right corner.

The fifth and final try came three minutes from time when Attissogbe broke through on the right wing before feeding Gailleton, who broke Paolo Odogwu's tackle to score.

Scorers for France: Tries: Bielle-Biarrey, Meafou, Ramos, Drean, Gailleton. Cons: Ramos 4. 

Scorers for Italy: Tries: Capuozzo. Pens: P. Garbisi.

France: Attissogbe, Drean, Gailleton, Brau Boirie, Bielle-Biarrey, Ramos, Dupont, Gros, Marchand, Aldegheri, Flament, Meafou, Cros, Jegou, Jelonch. Replacements: Barassi for Gailleton (59), Serin for Dupont (76), Mauvaka for Marchand (59), Colombe for Aldegheri (54), Nouchi for Cros (55), Ollivon for Jegou (55), Guillard for Jelonch (75). Not Used: Neti. 

Italy: Capuozzo, Lynagh, Menoncello, Marin, Ioane, A. Garbisi, Fusco, Fischetti, Nicotera, Ferrari, N. Cannone, Zambonin, Lamaro, Zuliani, L. Cannone. Replacements: Odogwu for Ioane (68), P. Garbisi for Fusco (60), Spagnolo for Fischetti (54), Dimcheff for Nicotera (54), Zilocchi for Ferrari (54), Favretto for N. Cannone (54), Ruzza for Zambonin (54), Odiase for Lamaro (73). Sin Bin: Lynagh (71). Ref: Andrew Brace (IRFU).

Reuters