France v Italy LIVE: Rugby World Cup 2023 result and reaction as France reach quarter-finals

Simone Ferrari leads the two sides out on his 50th appearance for Italy! Anthems to follow shortly with France first and then Italy.

Not long until kick-off now at the OL Stadium in Lyon! The teams will be heading out for the anthems shortly.

France head coach Fabien Galthié has never lost a match against Italy, as a coach or a player. He faced them as a player in 1997 and 2001, and has coached his country to all five matches they’ve played with him as coach since 2020.

Italy head coach, Kieran Crowley, hopes to honour the identity of his team when they take on France tonight. The game is likely going to be Crowley’s final one in charge of the Azzurri unless they pull off a shock win over the hosts.

“Our focus will be on our performance,” he said, “We worked during the week thinking about this next game. We want to honour our identity as a team and try to take a step forward.”

France will top the group if they beat Italy in their final game.

If Italy win, though, they should be through - France’s failure to get a bonus point against Uruguay leaves them vulnerable. Even if the two European teams finish locked together on 14 points - Italy win without a bonus point and France finish within seven - Italy will advance due to their final weekend win.

The complex scenario could come if Italy beat France with a bonus point, while the hosts take both a losing and try bonus point - it would leave all three teams locked on 15 points.

In that case, the group winner would come down to points difference, with New Zealand top, and Italy, again, through by dint of their head-to-head victory over France.

The All Blacks stormed into the World Cup quarter-finals with another mesmeric display of attacking rugby to put down an initially troublesome Uruguay 73-0 in their final Pool A match on Thursday.

After losing their tournament opener to France, New Zealand ran in 11 tries against Namibia, 14 against Italy and added another 11 against Los Teros at OL Stadium.

Damian McKenzie score two tries and made a couple more in an outstanding display, while winger Will Jordan grabbed his 26th and 27th five-pointers in only his 28th test with a performance just as good.

England’s Karl Dickson is one of the officials at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The former professional player ended a long top-level career in 2017 having narrowly missed out on international caps.

Younger brother Lee, also a scrum half, appeared 18 times for England between 2012 and 2014. However, Karl has rapidly risen through the refereeing ranks after starting his officiating journey while still playing for Harlequins.

France back row Anthony Jelonch spoke about the World Cup after returning from injury.

He said: “I’m able to enjoy it properly, tell myself it’s real because I’ve been preparing for it for three months. Now I’m out on the pitch, I’m gradually getting back into the swing of things.

“In the first match, I was a bit worried about my knee and my fitness. The second match went perfectly. I’m gradually getting stronger. It’s been seven months since my operation, so everything’s normal. I’m past the normal healing period.”

Sebastian Negri shared his excitement about facing France.

He said: “Excited. I think it’s been a really good week after a difficult performance against New Zealand. We’ve kept positive, we’ve dusted ourselves off and the boys are really excited to showcase what this team is about. I can’t wait.

“We’ve forgotten about New Zealand. We had a short review on it but our immediate focus has been on France. It’s another massive opportunity for us. We are not thinking about what’s happened; we are thinking about the future and what we can control, and that starts tomorrow at 9:00 pm.”

- Pierre Bruno starts on the right wing for the first time at RWC2023.

- Tommaso Allan has not missed a kick at goal so far this tournament, slotting all 15 of his attempts.

- Federico Ruzza made 13 tackles against France in February and had 100% success rate.

-Simone Ferrari makes his 50th appearance for Italy and Luca Morisi will reach the same milestone if he is used from the bench.

- Ferrari starts at loose-head for the first time since 2019.