France head coach Fabien Galthie said winger Damian Penaud’s match-winning try was “beautiful” as his side beat Australia 30-29 in the Autumn Nations Series on Saturday.
In a tight affair at the Stade de France, less than 10 months away from the Rugby World Cup, Penaud crossed in the 76th minute to secure Les Bleus’ record 11th straight Test win.
“It’s a beautiful try because we went looking for it,” Galthie told France Televisions. “The scenario of the match was difficult, but at this level nowadays you have to be able to respond to everything.”
Photo: AFP
“The players responded really well, it’s magnificent,” he added.
With 5 minutes to go, and the score sitting at 26-25 Austrlaia’s Reece Hodge kicked a penalty to make it 29-25, but the final word went to Penaud.
He caught substitute Matthieu Jalibert’s looping pass before beating two would-be tacklers for his 10th Test try.
Thomas Ramos missed the difficult conversion, but Galthie’s men held on to break the French record for most consecutive wins which had stood since the 1930s.
In other games on Saturday, it was:
‧?Italy 49, Samoa 17
‧?Scotland 28, Fiji 12
‧?New Zealand 55, Wales 23
‧?Ireland, 19, South Africa 16
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