Italy were left wondering what might have been after narrowly losing their final game of the 2019 Guinness Six Nations to France at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
The hosts raced into a 6-0 lead in the Super Saturday opener thanks to two Tommaso Allan penalties, before Les Bleus hit back with an Antoine Dupont try.
Romain Ntamack added the extras to give the visitors the lead for the first time and then added a further penalty to put France 10-6 ahead at the break.
But Italy were unlucky to find themselves behind, with Marco Zanon agonisingly missing out on a try on his international debut as the Azzurri dominated possession and territory.
He looked certain to score after running onto a clever kick through, only to be denied when the ball hit the cushion around the post and deflected away from him.
Allan added another penalty for Italy, before France hit back thanks to a try from Yoann Huget, made by Ntamack’s break.
Conor O’Shea’s side eventually made a breakthrough when scrum-half Tito Tebaldi crossed in the 54th minute to cut the deficit to 20-14.
Zanon then had a chance to win the game for Italy after a sustained period of Italian pressure in the final ten minutes, with France down to 14 men after Camille Chat was sin-binned.
He raced toward the whitewash and dived over but Damian Penaud produced a remarkable last-ditch tackle to force the Italian to knock the ball on before touching down.
Penaud then sealed victory for his side moments later following a brilliant catch and offload by Ntamack, with the winger outpacing the Italian defence to score.
The win was France’s second of the Championship, leaving them in fourth place in the table, while Italy finished in sixth.
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Source: 6 Nations