FULL-TIME, FRANCE 60-7 ITALY. A quite incredible performance from France… beautiful running rugby and the most solid of defences. Heartbreaking for Italy, who worked their way into a number of excellent scoring positions but walk away with just the one try. France were too strong overalll for Italy and it's the type of win they would have wanted to take into the quarter-finals… and they are looking like a tough opponent for whoever they face. Thanks for sharing the action with us and enjoy your sporting weekend.

FULL-TIME, FRANCE 60-7 ITALY.

PENALTY, FRANCE, JAMINET! 60-7; The French end the match by taking a penalty for poles, Jaminet slotting the kick from 15m in on the 22… and with that the ref brings the match to a close.

France drive forward again forcing Italy onto heavy defence but the hold the hosts up.

Jalibert slides his conversion just to the right of the posts.

TRY, FRANCE, MOEFANA! 57-7; France just keep pressuring the pressuring the line, the ball is fed down the line and Moefana grabs onto it and drives through for his second try.

France drive up to the Italian 22 and win a lineout on the 5m line.

CONVERSION, ITALY, ALLAN! 52-7; Perfect conversion from the right side of the field.

TRY, ITALY, ZULIANI! 52-5; Italy work the ball back, drive into the 22, are pushed back but Zuliani breaks from the maul and crashes over for a much deserved try.

Italy win the ball and drive upfield to the French 22, but the hosts gave turned the ball over and punt play downfield.

Italy with a scrum on their 10m…

CONVERSION, FRANCE, JAMINET! 52-0; Jaminet takes over the kicking and nails his first effort from a few metres in from the right touchline.

TRY, FRANCE, MOEFANA! 50-0; France drive into the Italian 22, they hit the 5m and a long wide ball goes out to Moefana who catches it and takes a few steps and over for the try.

France back in possession and driving back into the Italian half, now they run the ball… kick into the Italian 22 but Bruno claims the mark.

Italy regain possession and drive hard at France, moving the ball into their half… but again they are penalised and France can clear the danger.

CONVERSION, FRANCE, RAMOS! 45-0; Now Ramos slots the conversion from the left, about 10m in from touch.

TRY, FRANCE, MAUVAKA! 43-0; Mauvaka grabs a loose ball from the lineout and slips through to score.

More heartbreak… Italy on the 5m… but the ball is stolen out the back of the ruck and France storm downfield, run the line, a grubber through into the 22… Italy grab the ball but are caught holding and France have the penalty and the kick earns a 5m lineout.

Italy finally win a penalty and the kick will see a lineout on the French 5m…

CONVERSION, FRANCE, RAMOS! 38-0; The Terminator had his batteries recharged over half-time and he slots this kick from 15m in from touch.

TRY, FRANCE, JAILBERT! 36-0; France keeping pounding away, the ball is passed out to Jailbert who sells a dummy and then runs around the back of an Italian defender and darts over for the try. Stunning play from the French team… and another knife-blow for the Italians.

France hammering away at Italy's 5m… both sides are taking a hammering but Italy are refusing to let them through…

France with the lineout near the 5m line, they win the throw, pass left and Italy concede a penalty almost in front of poles… and Italy will feed the scrum.

… but Italy are penalised and France scrum, Italy are penalised again and they kick into the Italian half.

Italy drive hard at France but concede a penalty near the halfway line… but Jalibert's kick fails to find touch and runs out of play, so it's an Italian scrum…

KICK-OFF! France are on the brink of the quarters, but what will Italy have to say about it over the next 40 minutes…

HALF-TIME, FRANCE 31-0 ITALY. What an incredible performance of running rugby and high-quality defence from France… they're looking like World Champions make no mistake. Italy looked like passenger for the first 20 minutes but they have fought back superbly and looked to have scored a superb try. France look on course for a lot of points in the second half… the permutations for Italy have dwindled… they can still make it but France would have to implode. But surely they will come out and give France hell for the last 40 minutes as they wave the World Cup goodbye… Italian pride, how will it impact the rest of this clash?

Ramos has a penalty from the halfway line, right in front of poles… but this one slides to the right of the posts by a matter of inches. HE IS HUMAN! And there's the whistle to end an incredible 40 minutes of rugby…

CONVERSION, FRANCE, RAMOS! 31-0; This conversion again from the right-hand touchline… and the Ramos-Terminator slides it through the poles beautifully.

TRY, FRANCE, PENAUD! 29-0; France swing the ball to the flyhalf, Jalibert gets a lofted cross kick in as a tackle knocks him off his feet… it's into open space as Italy have pushed up in defence… and Penaud dashes forward to catch the ball on the full, three strides and a dive over the line for a try that will really suck the guts out of Italy. Brilliant France… commiserations to Italy.

That's a bitter, bitter blow for Italy, who pulled their sails in and started to really attack France superbly… they really needed those points to boost them going into half time.

YESSSSSS!!!! Italy finally slide over for the try amid a pile of French bodies… joy for Italy and the crowd erupt in appreciation… but oh no, the TMO has been asked to rule on a clean out… and Ferrari is ruled to NOT have a yellow card but France will get a penalty to clear the danger. The crowd were not happy with that decision… and we're IN FRANCE!

Italy press and press inside the 5m line… the ball is fed right and Italy keep barging away at the line but France is defending like the Maginot Line…

Italy's kick hits touch just short of the 5m line, they win their throw and feed the ball left, battering away at the French tryline but France's defence is strong… 

Great passage of play for Italy ending in a penalty for Italy for deliberate knock-down. Capuozzo has been called off for a head injury assessment, and he's far from happy about it.

Italy now enjoying all the possession and running hard at France, winning their rucks with ease now and the ball travelling safely down the backline left and right…

France kick play back into Italy's half but they push back and drive hard at France, lovely work from Capuozzo to drive through the French line, taking a heavy knock in the process.

AT LAST! Italy break on a run and for once have France scrambling to haul them in. It's Allan driving into the 22, he looks to offload to his right with three Frenchmen on his heels… but the ball falls to ground as the tackle comes in on him, and France will fee the scrum a few meters ahead of their 5m line.

France just keep pushing and pressing and Italy don't have any response.

CONVERSION, FRANCE, RAMOS! 24-0; This kick from the right touchline slides through once again. Ramos is the Terminator here tonight. He and France look unstoppable.

TRY, FRANCE, RAMOS! 22-0; Another superb piece of passing and running from France, Ramos crossing in to confuse the opposition and run through for the try in the corner.

Now France feed the scrum 7m short of the Italian tryline…

No rest for Italy, as France are breaching their 22 again, slick passing right and left, powerful rucking… they're 8m from the Italian line… but Bielle-Biarrey is ruled to have been pushed out to touch before he flicked his pass inside. Wonderful play from France.

CONVERSION, FRANCE, RAMOS! 17-0; Again he nails the kicks, and from exactly the same spot at France's first try and conversion. Italy already look like they've been through the wringer…

TRY, FRANCE, BELLE-BIARREY! 15-0; France running right now, ruck, the ball goes right and Penaud stabs a kick across field, the bounce is good for Bielle-Biarrey, who sidesteps two Italians and takes another over with him as he stretches out to dot down for the try.

WHAT A RUN! France win their lineout, run the ball, Jalibert gets the ball, runs backwards to evade some marauding Italians and then breaks forward into the 22 at pace, sending a grubber scudding into touch with Italy looking a tad sea-sick…

France win their scrum, run at pace at Italy, the grubber drives play well inside the Italian 22… but the over-zealous French are penalised and Italy clear the danger up to just past the French 10m line… super kick from Italy.

PENALTY, FRANCE, RAMOS! 10-0; Ramos' kick is straight as an arrow and with plenty of meat on it, clearing the crossbar with plenty of space.

France hammer away at Italy from the restart, pounding away at them until they win a penalty two feet in front of the centre spot…

CONVERSION, FRANCE, RAMOS! 7-0; Ramos nails his conversion from the left wing, 5m in from touch.

TRY, FRANCE, PENAUD! 5-0; France dominating straight from the kick-off, maintaining possession as they worked the ball up to the Italian 22… then a quick feed out, draw the man, draw the man… and Penaud speeds over to score about 5m in from touch. Big statement from France that!

KICK-OFF! We're underway with France v Italy for a place in the quarter-final……

Our referee for tonight is Karl Dickson of England, and he will be assisted by Luke Pearce from England and Craig Evans from Wales. Our TMO will be Marius Jonker from South Africa.

Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Paolo Garbisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Hame Faiva, 1 Simone Ferrari. Replacements: 16 Marco Manfredi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Luca Morisi, 23 Lorenzo Pani.

France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu, 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Charles Ollivon (captain), 6 Anthony Jelonch, 5 Thibaud Flament, 4 Cameron Woki, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Cyril Baille. Replacements: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Reda Wardi, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Romain Taofifenua, 20 Francois Cros, 21 Baptiste Couilloud, 22 Yoram Moefana, 23 Melvyn Jaminet.

In terms of recent form, France have won all five of their last five Tests, while Italy have won four… their loss coming in their last match, the 96-17 hammering at the hands of the All Blacks.

This will be only the second time the two sides have met in the Rugby World Cup. The previous meeting was at Twickenham in 2015, when France ran out 32–10 winners in their Pool D clash.

France have won the last 13 Tests between the two sides, with the closest result coming in their last clash, a 29-24 win for France in Rome.

Perhaps the statistic that makes the toughest reading for Italian fans is their head-to-head result against France: the two have played 47 Tests, with Italy winning just 3 and France winning 44!

France have been knocked out in the quarter-final stages three times (including the last two World Cups). They have gone out in the semi-finals three times and have lost in the final on three occasions (1987, 1999, 2011).

Both sides have competed in all 10 World Cups (including the current one). However, while Italy have NEVER made it out of the Pool or Group stage, France have always made it out of the group stage.

France are ranked 2nd in world rugby, while Italy are down in 11th place... which in rugby terms is a LONG way.

Both have had fairly similar World Cup performances… EXCEPT when you compare their results against NEW ZEALAND. France pulled off a magnificent 27-13 win over the All Blacks in the opening match of the tournament… while last week New Zealand demolished Italy to the tune of 96-17!

Italy will go through ahead of France if they win (without a bonus point) and France get only one bonus point (not two). Plenty of permutations… here's the basic info: France are three points ahead of Italy… and a team gets four points for a win. France win… they're through, regardless of bonus points. However, if Italy win they will be one point ahead of France and they it will boil down to bonus points won on the night… so keep you eye on that. That also makes it important that Italy beat France by more than seven points, to deny them a bonus point. Should they finish EQUAL on points, then whoever wins tonight will be ranked higher on the table by virtue of having beaten the team they are tied with. All pretty simple.

There aren't many permutations, but here's one: France lose 20-21… France score four tries (none converted)… and Italy score three tries (15 points) all converted (6 points). Or Italy could score a penalty or two if they miss a conversion. Keen an eye out for that scoreline… and you heard it here first!

France will leapfrog the All Blacks to top Pool A if they avoid defeat against Italy, which many expect to happen. They can also top Pool A if they pick up two losing bonus points… as long as Italy win WITHOUT scoring four tries. The mathematics of this in the modern game are unlikely with the focus on scoring tries.

After losing the opening match of the competition, New Zealand now top the pool and have qualified as there is no way France AND Italy can both climb above the All Blacks in the pool. Namibia and Uruguay are also way out of the reckoning… which makes tonight a shootout between hosts France and Italy for a spot in the quarter-final… with mighty Ireland or three-times champions South Africa their likely opponents - unless Scotland can turn the soil of Saint-Denis into pixie dust and do the almost impossible tomorrow.

Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of the LAST game in Pool A in the 2023 Rugby World Cup… and boy oh boy is there plenty to play for for both teams.