Italy 3 France 39:  France made a barnstorming start to the defence of their Six Nations Championship crown by plundering five tries in a convincing win against a beleaguered Italy at the Stadio Flaminio today.

After an even opening 20 minutes, Christophe Dominici went over following an Italy error in midfield - and the floodgates opened.

Cedric Heymans and Sebastien Chabal also scored five-pointers before the break, which Les Bleus went into 22-3 ahead.

The impressive Chabal and Yannick Jauzion added further scores in the second half, with outhalf David Skrela - making his first appearance in a France shirt for almost six years - booting 11 points in the process.

It was a strong performance from a side that was bereft of a number of key players, such as captain Fabien Pelous and regular number 10 Frederic Michalak. But they had more than enough to see off the Azzurri, whose only points came from the boot of substitute Ramiro Pez.

The teams observed a minute's silence before kick-off, following the death of a policeman during a football match between Palermo and Catania last night.

Once proceedings got under way, Italy wasted two early chances to go ahead through penalty kicks, with first Andrea Scanavacca then Roland De Marigny missing.

Scanavacca was chosen ahead of Pez at outhalf but his afternoon was to be cut short after he was injured in the build-up to the second penalty. Pez came on as a replacement in the 13th minute.

Skrela showed them how to do it at the other end after 12 minutes, knocking over a simple three-pointer after Italy had impinged at a scrum, to put France ahead.

The visitors were finding gaps in the Azzurri defence through some slick build-up play, often involving Toulouse centres Florian Fritz and Jauzion. But the killer pass or move went astray on a number of occasions, which was symptomatic of the scrappy start to the game.

France did stretch their lead in the 24th minute, however. A awry pass from Gonzalo Canale was pounced on by Raphael Ibanez, who booted the ball upfield. Dominici outpaced the covering defence, hacked on himself down the right and then collected to go over under the posts.

That was followed in the 31st minute by a second converted try, scored by other winger Heymans, who received a deft pop-up pass by Skrela tight on the left flank to breeze over under the posts.

A Pez penalty under the sticks gave Italy brief respite but the rampaging Chabal put the game beyond the hosts with tries either side of the interval. He barged over from close range following a sniping run from the impressive Mignoni in first-half injury time.

And the second half was only four minutes old when the Sale number eight doubled his try count for the afternoon, running onto a short Mignoni pass just off a ruck and powering through some powder-puff tackling to ground near the posts. Skrela converted for the third time.

Chabal was running the show for the visitors, forcing a turnover with the Italians 10 yards out in the 50th minute, then showing some nifty footwork in midfield to bemuse a would-be Italy tackler in midfield moments later.

Skrela went close to adding a try to his ever-increasing tally in the 58th minute, but having kicked on following another error in the Italy midfield, he was dragged down and into touch near the right corner.

Jauzion scored France's fifth try in the 63rd minute in front of a crowd which had become demoralised by that stage.

Skrela's high kick was patted down by Heymans into the path of Clement Poitrenaud, and his short pass sent away the centre, who galloped over from 10 yards.

With the game comfortably won, France started to show-boat, Jauzion picking up a ball under his own posts and beginning a counter-attack that took his team to the half-way line.

Italy huffed and puffed for a try in the final 10 minutes, but their efforts went unrewarded.  PA