France - 26 Australia - 16: On a perfect pitch, in ideal weather, and in front of 60 ,000 spectators, Australia looked nothing like World Cup runners-up on Saturday night as they stumbled to their sixth successive defeat, their worst run since 1969.
Coach Eddie Jones admitted later their confidence was shot to pieces, and their scrum was saved from early annihilation only by the benevolence of the referee, Paul Honiss.
Although Australia were still in the running at half-time, Yannick Nyanga had made mincemeat of their lineout early on and, in the absence of Stephen Larkham, the backs had a leaden look until the arrival of Lloyd Johansson and Drew Mitchell led to Mat Rogers's move to outhalf late on.
"It doesn't get much worse than this," said Jones. "We can't cope with one or two things going wrong on the ground because that translates into a string of things. I'm probably more disappointed now than I was in the Tri-Nations."
The coach accepts he is under pressure. "That's an understatement. The performance is not good enough (and) that means the preparation is not good enough. It's the responsibility of the coaching staff to get it right - it's not right and I take responsibility for that."
He hinted several changes will be made this week - they play England on Saturday - and Johansson and Mitchell have made their cases.
"We're fit enough, we know how we want to play but it's the mental side - the fear of failure," said Jones. "Everyone is making mistakes rather than encouraging each other to be decisive. Confidence is easy to lose and hard to get back and . . . we haven't any."
Frederic Michalak is only too aware of how delicate a flower confidence is, but here he blossomed at outhalf. He offered a telling contrast to Australia's barren phase play, in which the ball whizzed predictably left and right for the gain of a few inches until it was knocked forward.
Michalak and his halfback partner Jean-Baptiste Elissalde tormented the Wallabies with little chip kicks, audacious sidesteps and the occasional long, skip pass. Having set up Nyanga's disallowed try and Cedric Heymans's allowed one before half-time, Michalak was taken off after a late challenge by the lock Mark Chisholm which left him with a stiff neck. But his replacement, Jann Delaigue, looked equally assured, and the excellent Remy Martin snatched a 53rd-minute try put the match beyond reach long before Mitchell's late touchdown.
Les bleus will rejig their side to face Canada on Saturday; Australia, on the other hand, need rebuilding from the bottom up.
FRANCE: Laharrague; Rougerie, Jauzion, Fritz, Heymans; Michalak, Elissalde; Milloud (Marconnet, 75), Szarzewski, De Villiers, Pelous (capt), Thion, Nyanga, Martin, Lievremont. Replacements: Delaigue for Michalak (46 mins); Castaignede for Fritz (63 mins); Nallet for Pelous (68 mins); Bruno for Szarzewski (69 mins); Chabal for Lievremont (75 mins); Lamboley for Nyanga (80 mins).
AUSTRALIA: Latham; Sailor, Turinui, Tuquiri, Rogers; Giteau, Gregan (capt); Dunning, Cannon, Fitter, Chisholm, Sharpe, Elsom, Waugh, Smith. Replacements: Roe for Elsom (57 mins); Johansson for Tirinui (59 mins); Mitchell for Giteau (63 mins); McMeniman for Chisholm, Whitaker for Gregan (both 74 mins); Moore for Cannon (77 mins); Holmes for Dunning (80 mins).
Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).
Guardian Service
