Match Centre: Six Nations - Italy 24-29 France

Italy 24-29 France, Stadio Olimpico

Matthieu Jalibert's late try proved to be the difference as France overcame a stubborn Italy with a 29-24 margin in the opening round of the Six Nations tournament at Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.

France entered the tournament with an undefeated 2022 during which they clinched the Grand Slam while Italy also had wins over Wales and Australia last year.

France made a strong start to the game as Thibaud Flament charged down the kick from Stephen Varney to score and Thomas Ramos kicked the conversion to make it 0-7. As Uini Atonio was penalised at ruck, Italy had an opportunity to open the account with Tommaso Allan kicking the three-pointer.

France thought they scored their second try but Charles Ollivon knocked on while trying to touch down.

Nevertheless, they extended the lead shortly when Romain Ntamack and Damian Penaud combined to send Ramos to touchdown but the conversion went wide making it 3-12 before Allan kicked another penalty goal.

The Les Bleus extended their lead as Ntamack with a perfect cross-kick allowed Ethan Dumortier to score and Ramos improved to make it 6-19 before Italy bounced back through a try from Ange Capuozzo that came following a rolling maul. Allan missed the conversion but kicked another penalty goal at the stroke of half time to reduce the gap down to 14-19 at the end of the opening half.

France were the quickest to get off the block in the second half with a 47th minute penalty goal from Ramos but they were down to 14 players temporarily with Charles Ollivon sin-binned for collapsing a maul that resulted in a penalty try for the hosts making it a one-point game.

Another French infringement allowed Allan to kick his fourth successful penalty kick to take Italy into the lead for the first time in the game but the decisive moment came when Romain Taofifenua offloaded to Jalibert for their fourth try in the 67th minute and Allan's conversion helped France get away with a five point victory.

Team line up:

Italy: Capuozzo; Bruno, Brex, Morisi, Menoncello; Allan, Varney; Fischetti, Nicotera, Ferrari, Cannone, Ruzza, Negri, Lamaro (capt), Cannone.

Reserves: Bigi, Zani, Ceccarelli, Iachizzi, Pettinelli, Zuliani, Fusco, Padovani.

France: Ramos; Penaud, Fickou, Moefana, Dumortier; Ntamack, Dupont (capt); Baille, Marchand, Atonio, Flament, Willemse, Jelonch, Ollivon, Alldritt.

Reserves: Barlot, Wardi, Falatea, Taofifenua, Lavault, Macalou, Le Garrec, Jalibert.