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Delight and despair: there was late drama at the Stade de France. Michel Euler
November Tests

A day of thrilling drama as Australia hold off late French comeback in Paris

Meanwhile, there was late drama at Murrayfield as Scotland beat Argentina.

AUSTRALIA BEAT FRANCE 25-23 in a thrilling Test match at the Stade de France this evening.

The Wallabies, who rallied from 8-0 down to lead 13-11 at half-time, held off a late French charge with Camille Lopez missing a drop goal in the last action of the match.

Michael Cheika’s side, who kicked off their tour with back-to-back wins against Wales and Scotland, next play Ireland and England, as they eye a Grand Slam of Home Nations for the first time since 1984.

Both sides scored three tries apiece — the Wallabies first a penalty try followed by one from Bernard Foley, a late call-up for the injured Quade Cooper, and a spectacular effort from Tevita Kuridrani.

It was a return to reality for France who had been aiming to build on their morale-boosting 52-8 thrashing of Samoa.

Winger Virimi Vakatawa, fly half Jean-Marc Doussain and centre Wesley Fofana scored France’s tries.

France next play New Zealand in Paris on 26 November for the first time since they were humiliated 62-13 at the World Cup last year.

Meanwhile, Greig Laidlaw landed a penalty with the last kick of the game to seal a hard-fought 19-16 victory for Scotland against Argentina at Murrayfield.

Scotland v Argentina - Autumn International - BT Murrayfield Stadium Laidlaw, Finn Russell and John Barclay celebrate victory. PA Wire / PA Images PA Wire / PA Images / PA Images

The home skipper held his nerve to split the posts and secure his side’s fifth win in their last six meetings with the Pumas.

Neither team managed to score a try in a disjointed and error-strewn first half, but the game exploded into life after the break, with Matias Orlando finding the line to put the visitors ahead, before Maitland hit back for Scotland soon after.

Although they never came close to matching the quality of their performance against Australia last weekend, the Scots did at least manage to seal the win on this occasion despite Laidlaw missing a penalty and Finn Russell also failing to land a drop-goal inside the last ten minutes.

Nicolas Sanchez, meanwhile, celebrated winning his 50th Test cap by kicking 11 of his side’s points but Daniel Hourcade’s team were just unable to hang on after tiring in the latter stages.

And Laidlaw’s clinching kick could have wider implications, with the win set to take Scotland above Argentina in the world rankings, which could affect the respective teams’ seeding at next year’s draw for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

- © AFP, 2016

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