France hangs on to beat the Wallabies
FRANCE has held on to secure a nerve-shredding, 28-26 Test victory over the Wallabies in Melbourne.
The Wallabies, who trailed by 11 points with 10 minutes remaining, took a late lead thanks to an opportunistic try to skipper Michael Hooper and a Noah Lolesio penalty.
However, with two minutes remaining, Melvyn Jaminet slotted his seventh penalty of the game to keep the series alive ahead of the third and final match in Brisbane on Saturday.
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie had spoken pre-game about the need for a fast start for his side, but two early penalties from Jaminet stymied any hope of that.
The Wallabies looked to have a try thanks to a magical run from the hugely impressive Marika Koroibete, only to see that ruled out for a Tom Wright knock on.
There was no denying the French though.
After picking up a loose ball, Damian Penaud took full advantage of some unstructured Wallabies’ defence to break down the right side.
Penaud linked up with the hugely impressive flanker, Cameron Woki —one of five changes made to the French pack from the first Test — before sliding over to score.
Lolesio and Jaminet exchanged further penalties before the Wallabies scored a try of their own through Jake Gordon.
With time ticking down at the end of the first half, Hooper directed Lolesio to kick for the corner from which they crabbed across the field, five metres from breaching the French line.
There, versatile tight head prop Taniela Tupou stepped in as scrum half, expertly firing a pass to Gordon who dived over in the corner, to ensure the Wallabies only went into the sheds threepoints down.
olesio levelled the scores before three more penalties from Jamiet gave the French a nine-point lead.
That was not to last though, with the Wallabies roaring back into contention with a wonderful try to Hooper, who was on hand to finish off a brilliant break through the middle by Tom Banks.