{"id":544338,"date":"2026-07-11T11:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544338\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T11:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T11:14:12","slug":"wallabies-extend-losing-streak-after-being-blown-away-by-france-in-nations-championship-nations-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544338\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies extend losing streak after being blown away by France in Nations Championship | Nations Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wallabies crashed to defeat to France in Brisbane to extend their losing streak to six \u2013 their worst losing run in a decade \u2013 and continue their winless start to the Nations Championship<\/a>. As they had last week against Ireland, Australia squandered a half-time lead to be blown away by a scintillating France, leaving Joe Schmidt facing a terrible fade to black for his final Test next week as national coach.<\/p>\n

Both teams were stinging from narrow losses last week and their desperation told in a frantic early tempo. Despite an early jackal and what appeared to be a 50-22 kick from Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, the referee scrubbed it all for a high tackle. France took the gift, kicking deep and rolling into Australia\u2019s red zone before unleashing the 145kg Brisbane-born wrecking ball Emmanuel Meafou from point blank. France 7-0.<\/p>\n

Australia were stunned and so was their hooker Josh Nasser who left the field for an HIA, bringing Brandon Paenga-Amosa into the fray. He made an immediate impact, throwing an audacious short line-out which Ryan Lonergan shimmied back. The gold jerseys piled in and peeled off, Paenga-Amosa finishing what he began to level it 7-7.<\/p>\n

Australia were still making errors and a fumble off the kick-off put them under the pump. A Josh Canham steal and clearance by debutant flyhalf Declan Meredith got them out of trouble, but Les Bleus weren\u2019t done. Their No 10 Romain Ntamack dinked a grubber into the left corner, Meredith tried to shepherd it into touch only to see Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang fly around the blind side, steal the ball and score.<\/p>\n

After much of 2025 on the sidelines, Tom Wright had returned and his 50-22 got Australia back on track. As the Wallabies rumbled upfield, Meafou\u2019s head clattered into Rob Valetini\u2019s and was considered dangerous enough to be yellow-carded. The home side made the most of the one-man advantage, with a tap and go which set up repeat raids. Finally the blue line snapped and Fraser McReight thundered over.<\/p>\n

Wallabies captain Harry Wilson is a gambler. Last week his decision to play it safe and chase three points over five (twice) backfired with both kicks sailing wide. In the 32nd minute he rolled the dice, kicking for the corner. Josh Canham seized the lineout and the gold maul steamrolled over, with McReight notching the third double of his career. Lonergan nailed a third conversion to put Australia ahead 21-12.<\/p>\n

Fraser McReight celebrates scoring a try. Photograph: Chris Hyde\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

That half-time advantage didn\u2019t last long. First France Maxime Lucu slotted a penalty to bring his team within a converted score. That try came minutes later as Lucu spun the ball quickly after a Yoram Moefana charge. Fullback Matthieu Jalibert flew into the line, and kicked behind the gold line for Grandidier-Nkanang to collect and touch down.<\/p>\n

But France weren\u2019t done. With both teams emptying their benches, the tourists\u2019 fresh legs served them better, their maul rumbling into the red zone where Ntamack snuck down the short side and beat Lonergan for pace to snatch back the lead 21-27. With Wright still cooling his heels, Les Bleus went in for the kill, Grandidier-Nkanang and Jalibert were at it again, counter-attacking 70-metres to send Florian Verhaeghe over.<\/p>\n

At 34-21 down with a quarter to play, Australia looked cooked when Jalibert\u2019s fast hands at the lineout fed Th\u00e9o Attissogbe to crash over from close range. But they lived again when the referee found a forward pass. Could Australia capitalise? After Lucu\u2019s penalty they needed 16 points in as many minutes. They launched a breathless assault upfield, every gold jersey chiming in but dud passes snuffed each opportunity.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up to The Breakdown<\/p>\n

The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week’s action reviewed<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As they had last week against Ireland, Australia had squandered a strong start and half-time lead. France then showed them what elite rugby is about, cutting through with fast hands and feet to send Attissogbe over for 42-21. A sold-out Suncorp stadium, already reeling from a Queensland loss in State of Origin, hung their heads.<\/p>\n

There was a consolation try at the end but no one cheered. For the Wallabies it is a ninth loss in 10 Tests. They have now frittered two home Tests and a lot of local support. If they lose to Italy in Perth next week, they will send Schmidt out a loser. A new coach in Les Kiss \u2013 and a new approach \u2013 can\u2019t come soon enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wallabies crashed to defeat to France in Brisbane to extend their losing streak to six \u2013 their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-544338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}