France were made to work for it as Les Bleus began their defence of the Six Nations crown with a victory against Italy in Rome.
Debutant Ethan Dumortier, Thibault Flament, Thomas Ramos and Mattieu Jalibert all got on the scoresheet as the champions claimed a bonus point win, extending their unbeaten run to 11 games.
France, however, were dealt a scare when Charles Ollivon was sent to the sin bin, awarding the hosts a penalty as they moved into a one-point lead.
The impressive Ange Capuozzo doted down for the Italians while Tommaso Allan four penalties as Italy were denied their first Grand Slam home win since May 2013.
Still, having beaten both Wales and Australia in a memorable 2022, the performance inside the Stadio Olimpico will certainly give the Azzurri plenty of reason to be positive.
France will head to Dublin to meet Ireland in a huge clash on Saturday, while Italy meet England at Twickenham later that afternoon.
