Paris is the venue for the November Rugby International between France and Australia on Saturday, the final action of the year for both teams for which Les Bleus start as firm favourites.
France v Australia, Saturday 22nd November, Paris, KO 22:10 (South African time)
Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (IRFU), Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SARU)
Weather Forecast – Paris
France:
France hosted Fiji in Bordeaux last weekend, the main handicap line was in the mid 20’s and although Les Bleus won the game 34-21 it was one for the plus backers. France scored 4 tries, 3 of which came in the first 18 minutes to Fiji’s 3.
A week earlier France went down 32-17 to the Springboks who played more than half the game with 14 men. Damian Penaud scored 2 first half tries but 3 of the 4 tries for the Boks came from the 64th to the 76th minute which put the game to bed.
France toured New Zealand in July. They were not at full strength for that series and after losing the first test narrowly (31-27) they went on to lose the second match 43-17 and the third 29-19.
In the Six Nations earlier this year France were crowned champions. They started with a 43-0 home win over Wales and their only defeat came against England at Twickenham (26-25). They won 74-23 in Italy and 42-27 in Ireland before sealing the title with a 35-16 home win over Scotland, finishing 1 point clear of England and 2 better off than Ireland.
In the 2024 November internationals France beat Japan (52-12), New Zealand (30-29) and Argentina (37-23).
Australia:
The Wallabies were 10.5 point underdogs for last week’s clash with Ireland in Dublin and they came up well short, eventually going down 46-1. That was a Irish record margin with over the Wallabies who conceded 3 tries in the first 27 minutes and 3 more from the 69th minute onwards.
The Wallabies end of year tour began in Tokyo and they had to dig deep to see off Japan 19-15. Next up they took on England at Twickenham, they were given around 8.5 points start on the bookmakers main handicap line and that provide to be insufficient as England came out on top 25-7. Australia’s next stop was Italy and although they started at around 11.5 point favourites and scored 3 tries to 2 they finished up on the losing side as they hosts came out on top 26-19.
In the Rugby Championship Australia eventually finished third with a record of 2 wins and 4 defeats whilst in July they lost a 3 match home series against the B&I Lions 2-1.
In last years November series Australia started with a thrilling (42-37) win over England at Twickenham and followed up with a (52-20) win in Wales. After that they went down in Scotland (27-13) and were edged out in Ireland (22-19).
Recent Head to Head
Aug 2023 RWC (WU) Paris France 41-17 Australia
Nov 2022 INT Paris France 30-29 Australia
Jul 2021 INT Brisbane Australia 33-30 France
Jul 2021 INT Melbourne Australia 26-28 France
Jul 2021 INT Brisbane Australia 23-21 France
Team News
France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Maxime Lucu, 8 Gregory Alldritt (captain), 7 Charles Ollivon, 6 Anthony Jelonch, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Regis Montagne, 2 Julien Marchand, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros.
Replacements: 16 Maxime Lamothe, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Thomas Laclayat, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Hugo Auradou, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Baptiste Jauneau, 23 Kalvin Gourgues
Australia: 15 Max Jorgensen, 14 Harry Potter, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Dylan Pietsch, 10 Tane Edmed, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (captain), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Nick Frost, 4 Jeremy Williams, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Matt Feassler, 1 Angus Bell.
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Aiden Ross, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Valentini, 20 Carlo Tizzano, 21 Kalani Thomas, 22 Hamish Stewart, 23 Filipo Daugunu.
*Australia have had to make late changes, Carter Gordon and Billy Pollard have been replaced by Tane Edmed and Matt Faessler
The Betting
Average early show, subject to change
France -15.5 points at 9/10
Australia +15.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Brent Graham's betting angle and plays for this week’s internationals will be posted on this blog.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.
