Preview | Tour – Australia vs France – 2nd Test – 14/06/14

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Trophée des Bicentenaires at Docklands Stadium, Melbourne on Saturday 14 June

Australia host France in the second Test in Melbourne on Saturday aiming for another victory to win the three-match series.

The Wallabies ran in seven tries from seven different scorers as they blew the French out of the water in the 50-23 first Test success.

Only a late Morgan Parra try and a penalty try added any semblance of respectability to the scoreline for the visitors in Brisbane and France head coach Phillipe Saint-Andre admits he was ashamed by the defeat.

He has made 10 changes to his starting line-up for this Test, including recalling captain Thierry Dusautoir, and he is looking for a much-improved performance.

Saint-Andre said: “We were all ashamed, whether it was the staff or the players.

“Going down by 27 points is never pleasant. There have been talks, videos, recovery because that game left physical and mental scars.

“We have prepared ourselves for a big game, a big fight. When you ship as many points as we did and put in such a bad performance it’s normal to have some turnover in the group. Thierry will bring us an enormous amount of experience, stability and fighting spirit to the group.”

Australian boss Ewen McKenzie has warned his side France will be a wounded opponent with plenty to prove, and he urged them to continue their own improvement as they look to win the series with a game to spare.

He said: “France is one of the few one teams in the world who can make a lot of changes and still turn things around quickly in one week.

“They never stay down for long and will be using the disappointment of the opening Test to motivate them for the second game.

“We were pleased with our performance on a short preparation but we understand that we must improve if we’re going to match a reinvigorated and desperate French line-up on Saturday night.”

Teams

Australia have made three changes to their line-up for the second Test.

Waratahs hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau comes into the side in place of captain Stephen Moore, who has a knee injury, while former skipper James Horwill replaces Sam Carter (ankle) in the second row and Ben McCalman takes over for Wycliff Palu (ankle) at No 8.

Three further players are in line to make their Test debut with Western Force hooker Nathan Charles and Melbourne Rebels pair Laurie Weeks and Luke Jones selected on McKenzie’s bench.

The Wallabies will be led by Michael Hooper, who will become his country’s youngest captains since Trevor Allen in 1947.

For France, Dusautoir missed the opening Test with an arm problem, but returns at flanker along with Alexandre Flanquart, Rabah Slimani, Alexandre Menini and Yannick Nyanga among the forwards.

Saint-Andre has also changed both half-backs, with Remi Tales coming in at fly-half and Parra at scrum-half, and Maxime Medard, Mathieu Bastareaud and Brice Dulin also make the cut.

Tales and Bastareaud missed the opening game due to their commitments in the final of the French Top-14, while Parra impressed when he came on as a 70th-minute substitute in the first Test.

Long-serving No.8 Louis Picamoles has been named on the bench but Damien Chouly has kept his starting position in the back row.

Nicolas Mas, capped 67 times for France, has been dropped to the bench after a sub-par showing in Brisbane.

Hugo Bonneval, Gael Fickou, Felix Le Bourhis, Maxime Machenaud, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Guilhelm Guirado, Christopher Tolofua, Vincent Debaty, Rabah Slimani and Alexandre Flanquart have been sacrificed from the squad entirely.

Last 10 Games played between the Australia and France
7-Jun-14	Australia	50 – 23	France
10-Nov-12	France	33 – 06	Australia
27-Nov-10	France	16 – 59	Australia
27-Jun-09	Australia	22 – 06	France
22-Nov-08	France	13 – 18	Australia
5-Jul-08	Australia	40 – 10	France
28-Jun-08	Australia	34 – 13	France
5-Nov-05	France	26 – 16	Australia
2-Jul-05	Australia	37 – 31	France
13-Nov-04	France	27 – 14	Australia
Games Played	43		Games Played	43
*Games Won	24		*Games Won	17
*Games Lost	17		*Games Lost	24
Games Drawn	2		Games Drawn	2
*Longest Winning Streak	6		*Longest Winning Streak	4
*Longest Losing Streak	4		*Longest Losing Streak	6
*Largest Points For	59		*Largest Points For	34
*Largest Points Against	34		*Largest Points Against	59
*Largest Winning Margin	43		*Largest Winning Margin	28
*Largest Losing Margin	-28		*Largest Losing Margin	-43
*Total Points For	920		*Total Points For	760
*Avg Points For	21.40		*Avg Points For	17.67
*Total Points Against	760		*Total Points Against	920
*Avg Points Against	17.67		*Avg Points Against	21.40
*Total Points Difference	160		*Total Points Difference	-160
*Avg Points Difference	3.72		*Avg Points Difference	-3.72
* = By Australia			* = By France

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POSSIBLE RR World Rankings outcome on Result

AUS (on 86.90 points) at home -vs- FRA (on 80.01 points)

Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Scott Fardy, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Pek Cowan,) 18 Laurie Weeks, 19 Luke Jones, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Kurtley Beale, 23 Pat McCabe.

France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 Rémi Talès , 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Alexandre Menini.
Replacements: 16 Brice Mach, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Bernard le Roux, 20 Louis Picamoles, 21 Antoine Burban, 22 Frédéric Michalak, 23 Remi Lamerat.

Date: Saturday, June 21
Venue: Docklands Stadium, Melbourne
Kick-off: 20:00 local (10:00 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Television match official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

Story/Stat Sources : http://rugbyredefined.com : http://rugbydata.com