Reaction: Wallabies cruise past France at Suncorp
July 5, 2008

Australia coach Robbie Deans was circumspect about his team's performance ahead of their Tri Nations opener in a fortnight's time.

"We're very conscious that the next arena will be very different," Deans said. "It will be another level, there's no doubt about that."

The Wallabies ran in a record win against the French, whose ill-discipline and poor handling reduced prospects of their tying the series.

"I think (France) were looking forward to their vacation. That's harsh but fair," Deans said. "We created opportunities and we took those opportunities and there were many more that we didn't take as well.

"But they don't give you points, they were physical and the casualty ward shows that."

Man-of-the-match Matt Giteau, who contributed 20 points and set up all of the Wallabies' four tries, was in a jovial mood, particularly when commenting on James Horwill's try. The lock tried to imitate Giteau's swallow dive while scoring his try, but the home fly half recommended that Horwill keep practising.

"It was dreadful, I'd give him one or two (out of 10 for the dive). I think the crowd liked it a lot more than the rest of the team," Giteau chirped.

France coach Marc Lievremont described his team as "naive".

"[The game] was played very fast. Against a team with so much experience, being down 10-0 after seven minutes made it very complicated- especially since the Australians were not being overly expansive," he said.

"On the other hand our youngsters were courageous, for sure, but extremely naive. It's extremely frustrating in terms of the investment made by the players and Australian spectators because we were out-classed."

Lievremont also bemoaned the French season, which for some players has lasted over a year, including World Cup preparation.

"What was shown was the limits of the French system. Just speaking of the captain Lionel Nallet - 53 week-long season really isn't possible," said the coach. "There are some satisfying points for the collective in terms of the team's, and some individual's, courage. But there's also quite a lot of despondency. Even if before the game we wanted to persuade ourselves, because we're competitors, that anything is possible, the Australians brought us back to reality of our limits, which is difficult to accept."

Captain Lionel Nallet looked at the bright side.

"I'm not despondent," said Nallet. "Disappointed, yes, because we lost two games. For all the players, it's always difficult to lose.

"The players were exemplary for the whole stay which went very well. We had a lot of fun. The training sessions were very serious. Everyone was committed. On the field however there were some bad decisions that cost us dearly."

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