Six Nations 2026: Why France’s big win over Italy wasn’t as convincing as it looked

Looking at Sunday’s result, it seems as though France cruised to another dominant win, but there is more beneath the score.

The French secured victory by 25 points in Lille against an in-form Italian side.

Five tries was enough for a bonus point, which does mean that another four-try win against Scotland in a fortnight will grant them a record-breaking eighth Six Nations title.

Defensively, they were brilliant against the Azzurri, with dominant tackles all over the park.

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Aerial battle far closer than expected

Their lineout was also strong, only losing one the entire game, while disrupting the Italian throw throughout the game.

Thomas Ramos was a solid replacement at fly-half for injured Matthieu Jalibert, with classically strong kicking (bar the odd early mistake).

But the typical free-flowing carnage-ball attack did struggle for large parts of the afternoon. France went without getting any points on the board for a whole 40 minutes during the middle of the game.

It was a fascinating aerial battle, of which France have seldom experienced this tournament. Ireland were battered and bruised in the sky and the Welsh kicking game was subpar.

Against Italy, however, it was far closer.

Paolo Garbisi was really good again with his boot, creating plenty of turnover opportunities with his kicks.

Alessandro Fusco was the same, which meant the momentum swung back and forth for the majority of the second half.

Théo Attissogbe was, however, solid again under a high ball, but a single player isn’t enough for dominance.

Italy’s lineout collapse proves costly

Indeed, the visitors had a real chance to take a result back to Italy if it wasn’t for only a few issues.

Their lineout, which had been working so well until Sunday, crumbled throughout the game.

Six lineouts were lost officially, with more going wrong a phase or two after.

Whether it was France disrupting well or the Italians just struggling, it was a real blow and restricted moves into the 22.

In addition, Italy were dominated at the breakdown, from knock-ons to isolated runners being turned over, it was a frustrating watch for Italian fans, whose team has so much potential.

However, where one set piece struggled, the scrum was solid again.

Perhaps not as dominant as it has been in recent games, the forward pack held their own against a French unit full of big names.

Progress but fine margins remain

It was another performance from Italy that underlined their clear improvement from last year’s Six Nations, yet small but costly lapses once again prevented them from taking the next step.

It would not be an outrageous statement to make that they could well be favourites heading into round four against a wounded England side who have been left licking their wounds.

Steve Bortwick’s men were destroyed by an Ireland side which had to claw its way to a narrow victory against the Italians only a week prior.

Simply put, Italy are seemingly peaking at the right time.

France still in control

Although they will be disappointed in their past two results, they mean far more as a learning experience with the World Cup just around the corner, in which they can take the learnings from these narrow losses to find results against the tier one nations that will inevitably be playing.

The lessons learned against tier one opposition may yet help them turn fine margins into victories on the biggest stage.

As for France, stating that there were small cracks is really just nitpicking. They were in complete control defensively, only allowing Italy to score after a mistake which left the ball dead in their goal area.

They still look menacing and will travel to Murrayfield with the expectation of winning the tournament with a game still left on the table.

READ MORE: Six Nations preview: France vs Italy – The French will be looking to take control