The French 15th broke Australia and ended its autumn tour with a spectacular victory

Pushed to the end by the Wallabies, France finally made the difference late in the game to win (48-33) on Saturday and end the year with a win.

A well-deserved win, but one that will take time to take shape at the end of the year. The French For their final game of the autumn tour, Fabien Galthié’s men were zealous in defense against the fiery Australian, but they found the resources to seal victory thanks to Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s second try in the 72nd minute.

After a heavy defeat in the opener against South Africa (17-32), the Blues bounced back with two wins against Fiji (34-21) and Australia on Saturday. This win allows them to maintain their 5th position in the World Rugby rankings, identical to the top seeds in the 2027 World Cup draw scheduled for December 3.

However, over the course of the 40 minutes we thought we would see the same shortcomings that have plagued the Blues on this tour: weak defending, injuries (Charles Ollivon had a head injury), a lot of indiscipline (eight penalties in the first 40 minutes including a yellow card for Maxime Lucu in the 36th minute) and a lack of offensive engagement. The Blues conceded two tries from Australian pillar Matt Faessler (3rd and 36th) including an avoidable overlap.

But France’s three quarters also set the Wallabies defense on fire, with a try from Thomas Ramos (25, 6/8 on foot) and two tries from Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Nicolas Depoortere, voted man of the match. Her possible future relationship with Kalvin Gourgues, author of the excellent entry at the center for her first selection, has people salivating.

The draw at halftime (19-19) added to the tightness of the second half, but things weren’t too tight. The blue conquest was much more convincing, epitomized by the efforts of Depoortere (52) and Julien Marchand (64) after much hard work from the French forwards to repulse the Wallabies.

Max Jorgensen’s high-speed try in a 70-metre sprint down the touchline cooled France’s (56th) highlight but Louis Bielle-Biarrey buried Australia’s hopes with his 20th try in 22 picks in the 72nd minute. Two tries from Josh Nasser (76) and Thomas Laclayat (79), the first in Blue, added to the scoreline of a productive evening, but fate was sealed.

Worried for more than an hour, the French XV finally triumphed over Australia, who suffered their third defeat in a row against the Blues, and ended their autumn tour with four defeats in as many games. For Fabien Galthié, there are still many projects in the middle of the 2027 World Cup, but Saturday’s contract was fulfilled: a win, a spectacle and a confirmed top spot for the next World Cup.