Overview
- France beat Japan 42-15 in Tokyo on Saturday to finish their Nations Championship southern-hemisphere tour with two wins and one loss.
- Matthieu Jalibert and hooker Maxime Lamothe scored two tries each while captain Maxime Lucu added 15 points from a try and five conversions.
- The match featured discipline and officiating incidents including yellow cards for Japan lock Harry Hockings and France’s Jalibert, plus a TMO-reviewed Japan try that was disallowed.
- France replaced flanker Lenni Nouchi and lock Florian Verhaege for concussion checks during the game, and post-match ratings praised a dominant French forward pack and the Lucu–Ntamack–Jalibert combination.
- The tour closes a series that was managed with a 33-man squad built for workload control and squad depth, and observers should watch the developing concussion cases and any selection changes before the next phase.