France sent the sharpest of messages to England, scoring six tries against Italy as they warmed up for Saturday's grand slam decider in Paris.
There was an immediate verdict from Nick Mallett, the South African who coaches Italy and has seen England and France up close in the past month. "It's France's to lose," he said. "They are a very strong side whereas England's performances against us and against Scotland were not very good, not convincing. We did not play well today but France are one of the top two or three sides in the world."
England staggered to victory in Rome last month – France had three tries against Italy after 26 minutes. Where England's scrum had problems, the French tight five were thunderous. Where the red-rose lineout wobbled and flapped, the French jumpers were clinical and precise. The Italians were given no chance to slow the ball at the breakdown.
Italy's problems were obvious within seconds, Thierry Dusautoir leading his back row up the left with such ease that the crowd groaned at the lack of ambition when François Trinh-Duc opted for a drop goal – and missed it. Italian memories of victory over Scotland, however, were swept aside within seconds when the France scrum-half, Morgan Parra, scampered from a maul, side-stepped the midfield cover and found Imanol Harinordoquy on his shoulder.
Parra converted and kicked a penalty and France were 10 points up. There were times in the first quarter when Italy were lucky to put a tackle in. Trinh-Duc's perfect pass put David Marty in on 17 minutes. If that was a product of neat work under the noses of the defence, the try that ended the game proved that aerial ping-pong can be consigned to the bin if a side has ambition. Not for the first time the inspirational full-back Clément Poitrenaud ran back a speculative kick, and this time the blue of Italy melted before him and he was 45 yards upfield before Harinordoquy came alongside, this time to give Marty his second of the afternoon.
Mirco Bergamasco kicked six points for Italy either side of half-time, but then the wing Marc Andreu scampered through a gap made by dummy runners, Yannick Jauzion got home by a fingertip and Marc Lièvremont emptied his bench to keep legs fresh. Alexandre Lapandry, on for Dusautoir, benefited from a break by Julien Malzieu, who was on for Poitrenaud.
Not even France can take that amount of tinkering entirely in their stride, and while Lièvremont's new men were composing themselves Carlo Del Fava and Pablo Canavosio nipped in for Italian tries. But at least half of France now believe the grand slam is theirs for the taking.
France Poitrenaud (Malzieu, 62); Andreu, Marty, Jauzion (Bastareaud, 69) Palisson; Trinh-Duc (Yachvili, 57), Parra; Domingo (Poux, h-t), Servat (Szarzewski, h-t), Mas (Domingo, 70), Nallet (Chabal, 48), Pierre, Dusautoir (capt; Lapandry, 57) Bonnaire, Harinordoquy.
Tries Harinordoquy, Marty 2, Andreu, Jauzion, Lapandry Cons Parra 5 Pens Parra 2.
Italy McLean; Masi, Canale, Garcia, Mirco Bergamasco; Gower (Bocchino, 76), Tebaldi (Canavosio, 30); Castrogiovanni (Aguero, 66), Ghiraldini (Ongaro, 66), Perugini, Geldenhuys, Bortolami (Del Fava, 56), Sole (Derbyshire, 63), Mauro Bergamasco, Zanni.
Tries Del Fava, Canavosio
Cons Mirco Bergamasco 2 Pens Mirco Bergamasco 2.
Sin-bin Garcia 15.
Referee A Lewis (Ire) Attendance 78,712.
