Ace playmaker Matt Giteau scored all his team's points as the Wallabies continued their unbeaten run in this year's international season with a 22-6 win over France at the ANZ stadium in Sydney on Saturday.

The Australians controlled the match with their unrelenting defence and discipline to pass their test with flying colours against the French, who conquered New Zealand 22-27 a fortnight ago followed by a narrow 10-14 loss last week.

Flyhalf Matt Giteau scored all the Wallabies' points with a try, five penalties and a conversion from all his kicks at goal as the Wallabies dominated the second half after leading 10-3 at halftime.

The Wallabies beat Les Bleus three times last year and were never under threat as they made it four straight with their victory at Sydney's Olympic stadium ahead of their Tri-Nations opener against the All Blacks in Auckland on July 18.

The French have only beaten the Wallabies four times in 19 internationals in Australia, with the last triumph (28-19) coming in 1990.

Les Bleus found it difficult to back up after their torrid schedule of back-to-back internationals against the All Blacks.

But the Wallabies scored the only try of the match early in the first half and could not breach the French try-line for the remainder of the match.

The Wallabies almost scored in the second minute when winger Drew Mitchell dived for the corner but the video referee ruled that he lost the ball over the tryline.

Both sides attacked in a free-flowing opening before Australia scored their smartly-worked try in the 17th minute.

Giteau's long pass put Stirling Mortlock into space and Lachlan Turner and Berrick Barnes carried on the move before Giteau backed up on the outside to cross unopposed.

Flyhalf Lionel Beauxis kicked France's first points with a 21st-minute penalty before Giteau landed a penalty six minutes later to give the Wallabies a seven-point halftime advantage.

Perpignan centre Maxime Mermoz almost gave Les Bleus a flying start to the second half when he set sail for the try-line off an intercept but was called back by the referee for offside and Giteau landed his third kick for a 13-3 lead.

Giteau stretched the Wallabies' lead to 16-3 with another penalty goal minutes later.

The French continued to pay for their ill-discipline with replacement prop Nicolas Mas penalised for off-side for Giteau to kick the Wallabies to a 22-3 lead after 57 minutes.

Les Bleus registered their first points for 40 minutes when scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili kicked his team's second penalty with 19 minutes left.

Man of the match: He is known as a smart a player but Berrick Barnes' performance highlighted his true value to the Aussie backline while Matt Giteau starred with another masterclass performance. But, our award goes to Australia lock Nathan Sharpe who spearheaded the Wallaby pack against the physical French pack.

Moment of the match: Giteau's try was one of the few highlights of the match and the try also gave the Wallabies decent cushion and Giteau kept the scoreboard ticking over for the rest of the match.

Villain of the match: Nobody

The Scorers:

For Australia:
Tries: Giteau
Con: Giteau
Pen: Giteau 5

For France:
Pen: Beauxis, Yachvili

Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 George Smith, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Phil Waugh, 19 David Pocock, 20 Josh Valentine, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 James O'Connor.

France: 15 Damien Traille, 14 Maxime Medard, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Julien Puricelli, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Pascal Pape, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Remy Martin, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Julien Dupuy, 21 Vincent Clerc, 22 Julien Arias.

365

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