France's top rugby union players on Monday turned their focus towards Scotland after beating Italy 33-8 to maintain their quest for a clean sweep of victories - the Grand Slam - in the 2026 Six Nations.
Fabien Galthié's men ran in five tries to collect a bonus point on Sunday afternoon and return to the top of the table after Scotland briefly held supremacy following their 26-23 vicotry over Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.
"It was tough going," Galthié told broadcaster France TV after his France squad's match at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille, northern France.
"We managed to win the arm-wrestle, and the team managed to find the energy to break through the Italians and take the bonus point at the end of the match."
During the game, France's star centre Louis Bielle-Biarrey, notched up a record when he scored a try in his eighth consecutive Six Nations match.
The 22-year-old struck inside three minutes for his 24th try in 25 Test matches.
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The hosts looked set to cruise to victory after further scores from Emmanuel Meafou and Thomas Ramos.
But the visitors hit back with an Ange Capuozzo try in the 31st minute and stayed within range until the 70th minute when France debutant Gael Drean touched down to increase the lead to 24-8.
Emilien Gailleton added the gloss in the 77th minute to keep France on course for a record fifth "Grand Slam" and a record eighth crown since the inception of the Six Nations tournament in 2000.
"It wasn't our most complete match, that's for sure," Ramos told France TV. "I can tell you that Italy made us work for it. When you see the first two matches they played in the tournament, we're not surprised by the intensity they had."
Italy remain fifth in the Six Nations table with five points while France set the pace with 15 - five more than Scotland who they face at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on 7 March.
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In other games in the third round of fixtures, Ireland walloped England 42-21 at Twickenham on Saturday to register their biggest victory in England in 150 years of matches between the sides and leapfrog the hosts into third place.
Ireland skipper Caelan Doris emerged from the rout to hail his teammates for a second successive 2026 Six Nations win following their own 36-14 meltdown against France at the Stade de France in the opening round of games on 5 February.
"I spoke about the game against France as being a reference point where hopefully we'll see a pretty steep incline in terms of performances," said Doris. "I think this game against England will now be a reference point that we look back on as a proper good performance that's given us a lot of belief."
Ireland were 22-0 up before England responded with a try and conversion just before half-time to reduce the deficit to 22-7.
But there was no comeback, nor redemption for Steve Borthwick's troops.
Ireland scored a try soon after the restart to extend the advantage to 29-7 and they controlled the game to eclipse 2022's record triumph of 32-15.
"At the core of what we're doing in training, there has been belief," added Doris. "I think you saw some of that through how we played.
"It was just an unbelievable atmosphere. You talk about inspiring the nation and getting the Irish people behind us and hopefully that brought both the people here and at home a bit of joy."
In the fourth round of games, Ireland host Wales at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 6 March while England travel to Rome to take on Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 7 March.
