Receiving Matthieu Jalibert’s wide pass, the winger had it all to do, but stepped one man, handed off another and got over in the corner as France notched a record 11th successive Test victory with a 30-29 success.
The Grand Slam champions were not at their fluid best, and were pushed to the limit by the Wallabies. But as so often under Fabien Galthié, they found a way.
In doing so, they got the better of the last team to beat them, Australia having done so last July on home soil.
For Australia, there will be frustration that even after Lalakai Foketi’s wonder score, they could not quite get over the line.
Julien Marchand and Jock Campbell each got their first Test tries but in the end, it was the serial scorer Penaud who swung it.
WALLABIES START STRONGLY
Australia had started strongly, a scrum penalty allowed Bernard Foley to give them the lead after just two minutes.
France hit straight back through Thomas Ramos, starting for only the second time under Galthié, and he was on target again from halfway following a Grégory Alldritt turnover.
A Uini Atonio tackle of the ball allowed Foley to level the scores before Charles Ollivon thought he had the first try of the match. He was denied by the TMO for a double movement, and soon after, Australia hit the front in style.
Antoine Dupont’s clever chip kick looked as though it might put Ramos in, but when the rebound fell to the Australians, they pounced. From their own line, the ball was quickly shifted to Tom Wright on the wing. He got away from Penaud, raced away and in the end it was Foketi who got on the end of it to score.
Foley made it 13-6, then missed a kickable chance to stretch the lead to ten. That hurt when Ramos knocked over two more penalties before a sucker punch from France on half-time.
FRANCE STRIKE BEFORE THE BREAK
With the clock in the red, Australia tried to play and Gaël Fickou pounced on a loose ball before kicking through. Dupont was fastest to Andrew Kellaway covering back, marching him back to his own line before France counter-rucked and Marchand forced his way over. With Ramos’ conversion, they led 19-13 at the break.
That quickly became 22-16, Foley and Ramos exchanging penalties early in the second half, before the latter missed for the first time, pushing an effort from halfway wide.
It was all the encouragement Australia needed, drawing in French forwards with a powerful maul to set up Campbell, who had the pace to get around Romain Ntamack and over.
Foley’s conversion from out wide made it 23-22, and he added another to push the lead to four points.
France were not giving up though, and Ramos responded, only for a Reece Hodge penalty to leave Les Bleus needing a try to win it.
PENAUD MAGIC
They did just that, Jalibert ghosting through a couple of tackles on a run from deep, then popping up again to float the ball out wide to Penaud.
He had all the space he needed, stepping inside Wright and then handing off Campbell to go over in the corner.
From there, France saw it out, Jonathan Danty with the clinching turnover at the death, and they will now take their unbeaten run to Marseille where world champions South Africa come to town.
