FRANCE COACH Philippe Saint-Andre was disappointed with the way his side finished in a 30-10 Six Nations victory over Italy in Paris.
The hosts took the game away from their opponents in a 12-minute burst after half-time, with Louis Picamoles, Wesley Fofana and Hugo Bonneval all crossing to secure a 30-3 lead with more than 25 minutes remaining.
However, the final quarter of the game was marred by a number of penalties and moments of indiscipline.
France saw Sebastian Vahaamahina sin-binned for kicking the ball away before both sides had a men sent off, replacement front rows Rabah Slimani and Michele Rizzo dismissed for exchanging headbutts.
The Italians made the most of their numerical advantage, wing Tommaso Ianonne going over in the corner for his first try in international colours, and Saint-Andre felt the final 20 minutes took the gloss off what had otherwise been a strong performance.
“We did some good work for 55, 60 minutes,” he told the BBC. “We scored three tries. The last 20 minutes, nothing happened with lots of penalties from both sides.
“We were good for 60 minutes but very disappointing for the last 20 minutes and we didn’t have any ball.”
Saint-Andre felt the yellow card shown to Vahaamahina was perhaps undeserved.
“I need to look on the video,” he added. “I think the yellow card – it’s a young kid, he was stupid, but I think it was harsh. But I prefer to see the three good tries and one great try with our backs.”
