Australia 33-30 France: Wallabies edge thriller to claim series win despite early Koroibete dismissal

By Sports Desk July 17, 2021

Australia overcame a controversial fourth-minute red card for Marika Koroibete as they beat France 33-30 in a thrilling contest to take the Test series 2-1.

Les Blues claimed their first away win over Australia for 31 years in Melbourne last week to level the series, but they fell short in Saturday's tense decider at Suncorp Stadium.

The Wallabies had to defy the odds after wing Koroibete was harshly dismissed early on for a high tackle on opposition skipper Anthony Jelonch. It was their first Test red card since Tevita Kuridrani was dismissed against Ireland in November 2013.

France initially took full advantage of the extra man as Baptiste Couilloud crossed from close range to add to Melvyn Jaminet's earlier penalty.

But Australia responded almost instantly when Tate McDermott went over unopposed and Noah Lolesio touched down soon after – those tries sandwiching another Jaminet penalty – to swing the game in the hosts' favour.

 

After Cameron Woki went over the top of the Wallabies' defence and slammed down for France's second try, Lolesio kicked his second penalty to level up the game at 20-20 midway through.

France then put themselves in a strong position to complete a series win when Pierre-Louis Barassi raced through early in the second half to round off a sensational move.

However, Australia hit back once again through Taniela Tupou, who evaded a few opposition players to cross the whitewash, before Lolesio and Jaminet exchanged penalties.

Australia had a try for Brandon Paenga-Amosa ruled out for a knock-on, but France's ill-discipline would cost them as they conceded another penalty that Lolesio made no mistake in converting two minutes from time to settle the series. 

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