France were hunting down their third RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam in nine years when Italy, who had beaten them only once in their history at that point, visited the Stade de France in Round Four in March 2010.
That one-sided record was never placed under any threat, as Marc Lievremont’s side had the game won with something to spare, eventually running in six tries in a 46-20 thumping.
David Marty scored twice for the French, with only a couple of late Italian scores making the scoreline less emphatic on an afternoon the hosts purred.
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Setting the scene
After finishing third in 2009, France were left with two home games to wrap up the Grand Slam after holding off a second-half fightback from Wales to win 26-20 at the Millennium Stadium.
Italy headed to Paris buoyant after picking up their first RBS 6 Nations win in eight matches after Pablo Canavosio’s try proved decisive in a 16-12 victory over Scotland at the Stadio Flaminio.
The teams
France were captained by flanker Thierry Dusautoir, who was part of a pack that had been dominant in the Championship so far, with prop Thomas Domingo and No. 8 Imanol Harinordoquy standing out.
David Marty replaced the hard-hitting Mathieu Bastareaud in the centre, while the only other change from the win against Wales saw Marc Andreu come in for Julien Malzieu on the right wing.
Italy were without the talismanic Sergio Parisse, who was out with a serious knee injury, with Alessandro Zanni starting at No. 8 in his place.
Winger Mirco Bergamasco had taken on kicking duties in this year’s Championship and the visitors had tighthead prop Martin Castrogiovanni back from a muscle strain.
How the match unfolded
It didn’t take long for France to click into gear as they scored their first try in the fifth minute when Morgan Parra sneaked through a hole around the fringes before sending Imanol Harinordoquy under the posts.
Parra then took the score out to 10-0 with a penalty before Italy had Gonzalo Garcia sent to the sin bin in the 15th minute for taking out Marc Andreu after the winger had kicked ahead down the right.
Down to 14 men, it wasn’t long before the Azzurri conceded again, as a line-out from the resulting penalty led to Francois Trinh-Duc’s miss pass sending David Marty through a gaping hole to score.
Parra converted and Marty had his second before Garcia returned to the field when he touched down in the right-hand corner after a searing break by Harinordoquy.
The conversion was missed this time, but at 22-0 the game was as good as over after 25 minutes, despite Mirco Bergamasco’s penalty putting Italy on the board five minutes before half-time.
Parra and Bergamasco then exchanged kicks in the early minutes of the second half, but France well and truly ran away with proceedings either side of the hour mark.
Andreu ran in his first international try after 51 minutes when Trinh-Duc gave him a big gap to run through following a typically strong scrum.
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Yannick Jauzion then got in on the act as Andreu turned provider with a superb off-load before the Biarritz centre broke clear and sent replacement Alexandre Lapandry in for France’s sixth try with 15 minutes left.
At 46-6 up, the French finally took their foot off the gas and Italy had their first try when Craig Gower passed to Paul Derbyshire, who turned on the gas before allowing Carlo Del Fava to finish the move.
The visitors had a second consolation score with eight minutes left, as France switched off following a scrum, allowing Pablo Canavosio to sprint through some broken defence, but this was Les Bleus’ day again.
What they said
France No. 8 Imanol Harinordoquy said: “Today the big thing was to win. We are very happy. We know it wasn’t easy to play against Italy.
“Generally we did what we had to do to win this match. Now the last objective is to beat England and win the Grand Slam.”
Italy head coach Nick Mallett said: “It was the worst match we played for a year. We are pretty disappointed and our defence was very poor.
“A lot of players played their worst games today and when you do that against France they will score a lot of tries.”
France 46 Italy 20
Stade de France
March 14 2010
France: Poitrenaud, Andreu, Marty, Jauzion, Palisson, Trinh-Duc, Parra, Domingo, Servat, Mas, Nallet, Pierre, Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Harinordoquy
Replacements: Szarzewski, Poux, Chabal, Lapandry, Yachvili, Bastareaud, Malzieu
Italy: McLean, Masi, Canale, Garcia, Mi Bergamasco, Gower, Tebaldi, Perugini, Ghiraldini, Castrogiovanni, Geldenhuys, Bortolami, Sole, Ma Bergamasco, Zanni
Replacements: Ongaro, Aguero, Del Fava, Derbyshire, Canavosio, Bocchino, Robertson.
Attendance: 78,712
Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Click here for the complete 2017 RBS 6 Nations fixture list
