Explosions from mid-game bus fire and eye gouge mar Wallaroos’ loss to France

The Australian women’s rugby side have fallen to France in a dramatic last-gasp 29-26 defeat in Aix-en-Provence on a day so loaded with chaos that the game was even delayed after half-time due to a spectator bus exploding in flames behind the stadium.

In a game where aptly named English referee Holly Wood handed out five yellow cards for foul play - and one red card to a French player for making contact with the eyes of a Wallaroos player - the home side found themselves reduced to 11 players at one point in the first half.

Along with the permanent red card to Cloe Correa for eye contact, France had three more players binned for dangerous tackles between the 16th and 23rd minutes. One of those was upgraded to a 20-minute red card.

The Wallaroos had already dominated physically early and scored, but they duly took advantage of the four-person advantage by scoring another two tries and raced out to a 19-0 lead after 30 minutes. But the French side, having returned to 13 players, rallied and somehow scored twice before halftime.

The home crowd went from loud booing and whistling at the decisions of referee Holly Wood to joyous cheers as France somehow stayed in the contest before the break.

If there hadn’t been enough drama already, the game’s resumption after half-time was delayed by seven minutes after a shuttle bus caught fire directly behind one of two main stands at the Stade Maurice David.

Thick black smoke was seen billowing above the stadium. One Australian supporter who attended the game emailed this masthead and said when the tyres of the bus blew up “the explosions shook the whole stadium!”

When play finally resumed, the intensity picked up where it left off, and Australia scored again in the 50th minute through Piper Duck to hold a 14-point lead.

But the world No.4 France side again rallied behind a boisterous crowd. Having returned to 14 players, the hosts scored the last two tries and crashed over in the 75th minute to secure a staggering win against the Wallaroos.

It was a painful defeat for the Wallaroos, who couldn’t make the most of their varying numerical advantages and calmly manage their way home in the last half-hour of a crazy game.

Coming after a spirited performance against world No.1 England last week, the performance again showed the Wallaroos are trending upwards, but they’ll be kicking themselves for not taking the gift-wrapped opportunity to bury France.

“We put ourselves in a position to take out a win and we didn’t execute. But the positive is that we put ourselves in the position to win, but we’re disappointed and particularly on half-time, you know, when the French scored with 13 players,” Wallaroos interim coach Tim Walsh said.

“Like, that’s unacceptable. And that’s probably where the game might have been at its momentum shifting. And then, obviously, half-time, I don’t know whether you guys planned to bomb the bus, but it certainly had everything.

“The game had everything, didn’t it? It had a fantastic crowd, two fantastic teams, some running rugby, some discipline, some fireworks, and then some fire. So, yeah, it was an entertaining game.”

Walsh said the Wallaroos, who now move on to a match against Scotland next weekend, had ample talent, but the ability of the side to “manage games” was not good enough due to their lack of experience.

“If you compare how many matches a year the Wallaroos play to the French [players], it’s probably half, not from a Test match, just normal rugby,” Walsh said.

“So our ability to manage games, to upskill, to be fit, is where we’re lacking. We’re not lacking the talent.”