Key events
29 mins: Australia get back to work on halfway, exploiting 15v14 but after Wright is stripped there’s a little scuffle involving Verhaeghe and Alaalatoa. The Wallabies were playing with house money following an earlier advantage call so they settle and kick into French territory on the left.
ShareTRY! Australia 14-12 France (McReight, 27)
The Wallabies tap and go and earn a penalty advantage after a couple of drives. A try is inevitable, all that matters is which gold forward has the honour of shoving over from a matter of inches. Bell goes close, but McReight is the man with his name on the scoreboard! Australia are level again.
And Lonergan makes it two from two off the boot to send Australia in front!
26 mins: The second effort isn’t penalised but the Wallabies are given a free-kick.
25 mins: Australia with a 5m scrum next to the posts. The referee isn’t happy with France’s first effort, so there’s a warning and a reset.
ShareYellow Card (Meafou, 25)
Meafou does have to spend ten minutes in the bin for head-on-head contact in the tackle. The French lock just didn’t get anywhere near low enough as Valetini leant his right shoulder into contact.
24 mins: The Wallabies go through the phases to the left but play is eventually called back for the high shot. The referee communicates with his box to see if there’s more to it than just a high shot. Replays look like there could be something for Meafou to answer for his hit on Valetini.
23 mins: The lineout is secured and Australia get to work under the posts with a penalty advantage.
21 mins: Australia get through some slow phases either side of halfway. Eventually Lonergan kicks for the right corner, the ball bounces infield and looks set to roll out of play but Jalibert takes no risks as the chasers approach and accepts the drop-out. Valetini takes it on halfway and returns it with interest, taking out Attissogbe on the way.
The Wallabies go for broke and go through hands to the right but the combination with Sua’ali’i isn’t timed and France retake possession. But then as they try and build on the right there’s a breakdown turnover and Wright belts the ball miles to the right touhcline for a 50-22 – and this one will count.
ShareTRY! Australia 7-12 France (Grandidier-Nkanang, 18)
Nasser has failed his HIA so Paenga-Amosa will have to play hooker for almost the entire contest.
Meanwhile, Ntamack dabs another grubber into the left corner, Meredith fails to deal with it, trying to shepherd it into touch. Grandidier-Nkanang comes around his blind side, takes possession, dives, and touches down in one swift clinical movement! That was poor from the Wallabies.
Lucu can’t convert from the touchline.
17 mins: France secure the lineout and rumble a maul for a few metres before Nouchi splinters and gets within five metres of the line. The visitors head infield but Canham does brilliantly to stay on his feet and pilfer from his opposite number at the breakdown. That’s the second major steal of the evening already for the Australian pack.
15 mins: Eventually Lucu comes out with the ball but the midfield combination doesn’t come off and the ball goes to ground in sight of a contest but there’s no gold jersey near enough to dive on it so France recover and recycle. Their ruck play is quick and crisp allowing a series of phase play to cross the gain-line. Lucu is busy, Ntamack is clever, and after 11 drives he grubbers in to the left corner, forcing a hurried clearing kick that doesn’t exit the 22.
13 mins: Australia knock-on from the restart so we have the third scrum of the night. Like the previous two the set-piece has to be reset, taking time off the clock.
ShareCONVERTED TRY! Australia 7-7 France (Paenga-Amosa, 10)
Brilliant set-piece try from Australia! Brandon Paenga-Amosa throws it in, accepts the one-two with Lonergan at the front of the lineout and gets within inches of the line on the blindside. A couple of quick rucks later and the hooker is back to collect the ball from the base of the mass of bodies and dive the few inches over the line for a quick reply.
9 mins: Now Australia win a free-kick at the set-piece and Meredith sends up a huge bomb to test the French defence. It holds up, but there’s a near immediate penalty to the Wallabies for an illegal clearout from Bamba. With a long range shot for goal on offer Wilson tells Meredith to kick to the left corner instead.
7 mins: The first scrum is a France feed and it ends with a free-kick to the visitors who immediately spin the ball from left to right but there’s some loose handling as they near the 22 and Australia will feed a scrum on their left wing.
6 mins: Nasser is off early for an HIA. That means Brandon Paenga-Amosa packs down for the first scrum of the night.
5 mins: Australia get their hands on the ball and look to expand down the left where McReight dances along the touchline. Phase play returns infield where Jorgensen is hit hard. Lonergan does well to keep play alive and the Wallabies continue to show their handling skills – but there’s one pass too many as McReight shovels the ball a fraction forward to Pietsch on his outside. It was marginal, but the 10m line markings provided a neat guide for the touch judge.
ShareCONVERTED TRY! Australia 0-7 France (Meafou, 4)
France kick deep to the left and get to work infield. Jalibert enters the line in the right centre position and probes the line. The ball is recycled infield and the 145kg Meafou is unstoppable from two metres out despite the attention of plenty of gold jerseys on the line. Incredible start by Les Bleus!
Lucu can’t miss the conversion from just to the right of the posts.
Updated at 03.50 EDT
2 mins: France win their own ball from the kick-off and Nouchi is busy driving over the gain-line. But just as the visitors start to build momentum there’s a jackal at the ruck and Australia counter! Suaalii takes the second pass on the right and kicks ahead with some check side to secure a 50-22! Terrific from the Wallabies.
But hang on, play is being called back for a high tackle earlier in France’s drive by Canham. You can imagine how the former internationals on the telly enjoyed that.
ShareKick-off!
Australia in gold, France in blue, round two of the Nations Championship is under way…
Anthem time in Brisbane, which means an always welcome rendition of La Marseillaise. Advance Australia Fair pales by comparison, but the duration of the song allows plenty of close-ups of the Wallabies’ excellent First Nations jersey, worn to coincide with NAIDOC Week here in Australia.
Today’s referee is Englishman Karl Dickson, a former Harlequins scrum-half. He recently did an online AMA, which suggests he’s a good egg.
Conditions are perfect at a sold out Lang Park. It is a mild, dry, and still winter’s evening in south east Queensland.
The Suncorp Stadium pitch has been well used in recent months (most recently on Wednesday night for the final match in Australian rugby league’s State of Origin series) so may cut up in areas of high traffic. Nothing some long studs can’t cope with.
Suncorp Stadium in perfect condition before the Wallabies host France. Photograph: Pat Hoelscher/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
This is round two of whatever the Nations Championship is. If there was a notable result from the opening six fixtures it was South Africa’s hammering of England, putting the world on notice they are on course for a Webb Ellis Cup three-peat.
double quotation markTo be inside a fervid Ellis Park, their traditional citadel, last Saturday and witness their 45-21 win over England was instructive on several fronts, but there was one entirely unavoidable takeaway. Is there anyone out there with the physical firepower to stop the Springboks when the world’s leading sides converge on Australia next year?
ShareFrance XV
There’s a new No 10 for France tonight as well as Romain Ntamack comes into playmaker as Fabien Galthié rings the changes after last weekend’s near miss in New Zealand.
1. Moses Alo-Emile, 2. Peato Mauvaka, 3. Demba Bamba, 4. Florian Verhaeghe, 5. Emmanuel Meafou, 6. Lenni Nouchi, 7. Oscar Jégou, 8. Marko Gazzotti, 9. Maxime Lucu (c), 10. Romain Ntamack, 11. Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, 12. Yoram Moefana, 13. Fabien Brau-Boirie, 14. Théo Attissogbe, 15. Matthieu Jalibert.
Finishers: 16. Maxime Lamothe, 17. Jefferson Poirot, 18. Tevita Tatafu, 19. Hugo Auradou, 20. Tom Staniforth, 21. Killian Tixeront, 22. Nolann Le Garrec, 23. Kalvin Gourgues.
ShareAustralia XV
Declan Meredith becomes Wallaby 997 and the latest candidate to solve Australia’s longstanding issues at five-eighth. The 27-year-old has come from such a long way out to make his debut he doesn’t even have a picture against his name or a biography on the Wallabies website. His partnership with Brumbies teammate Ryan Lonergan will be critical.
1. Angus Bell, 2. Josh Nasser, 3. Allan Alaalatoa, 4. Josh Canham, 5. Jeremy Williams, 6. Rob Valetini, 7. Fraser McReight, 8. Harry Wilson (c), 9. Ryan Lonergan, 10. Declan Meredith, 11. Dylan Pietsch, 12. Len Ikitau, 13. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 14. Max Jorgensen, 15. Tom Wright.
Replacements: 16. Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17. James Slipper, 18. Taniela Tupou, 19. Lachlan Shaw, 20. Nick Champion de Crespigny, 21. Tate McDermott, 22. Jock Campbell, 23. Filipo Daugunu.
Angus Fontaine sets the scene ahead of yet another examination of Australia’s standing among the leading nations in International rugby.
double quotation markHard luck. Hard lessons. Call it what you want, but Australia’s 31-33 loss to Ireland last weekend has to harden the Wallabies’ resolve to stop losing gallantly and find a ruthless edge. With one win from their past nine Tests and the threat of home World Cup humiliation looming in 14 months, honourable defeat and positive intent no longer cut it. They must beat France this Saturday in Brisbane or they risk losing everything.
Daniel Gallen was impressed with the Wallabies against Ireland, but laments the longstanding absence of match-winners in gold.
double quotation markTest rugby is often dressed up as a complex sport, and much of the time it is. This match had intricate handling patterns, breakdown contests, lineout disruption and tactical momentum swings. But some truths remain blunt. If Australia can keep playing with this much ambition, skill and speed, they will trouble anyone.
To beat the very best, though, they still need two old things. A big man who can batter people when beauty is not enough. And a clutch goal-kicker who makes everyone in the stadium believe, before he has even taken his first step, that the ball is going over. Without them, the Wallabies will thrill, but the biggest games may keep slipping away.
SharePreamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Australia v France in round two of the Southern Hemisphere series of the 2026 Nations Championship. Kick-off at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium is scheduled for 5.40pm AEST.
So here we are again. Another winter, another week of what-ifs, another referendum on the state of Australian rugby.
Since the nadir of the 2023 World Cup the script has hardly changed. Seasons come and go, personnel fluctuates, results steadfastly refuse to budge.
The dispassionate World Rugby standings have Australia ranked eighth, with a points tally as close to outsiders Uruguay as the benchmark Springboks.
But the partisan former players that dominate the discourse will tell us on a weekly basis the valiant Wallabies give their all and deserve nothing but credit for falling just short of the breakthrough triumph that would begin their noble march back to the top of the sport. More often than not they tell us the match officials are the principal obstacle denying them.
Last weekend’s defeat to Ireland was textbook. In isolation, defeat snatched from the jaws of victory (assisted by a refereeing “howler” according to the boosters in the commentary box).
In a broader context, it was a fifth Test loss in a row (all to northern hemisphere opponents), and an 18th defeat in their past 26 outings, stretching back to August 2024. Of those eight wins, only three were by more than five points.
“The group has reset this week in Brisbane after what was a tough ending to the first game of the Nations Championship,” coach Joe Schmidt said. “We have worked hard on continuing to improve after missing some vital opportunities last weekend. We know we can be better on Saturday and we know that we will need to be against the back-to-back Six Nations Champions.”
Fourth-ranked France began their Nations Championship with a two-point defeat to the All Blacks in Christchurch. They’ve won their past three against the Wallabies, but all of these fixtures were in Paris.
Their most recent visit to Australia was 2021 when an effective B team acquitted themselves well despite enduring Covid protocols across a gripping three-match series.
I’ll be back with final team lists and more shortly. Please send me your emails and keep me company throughout the evening. The address is jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com.
Updated at 03.05 EDT