Defending champions France eased their way past Italy by 39-3 in Saturday's RBS 6 Nations opener at the Stadio Flaminio.


First-half tries from Christophe Dominici, Cedric Heymans and Sebastien Chabal saw Les Bleus take a 22-3 half-time lead.


The Azzurri scored their only points with a Ramiro Pez penalty.


Pez had entered the pitch after 12 minutes as a replacement for injured fly-half Andrea Scanavacca who had pipped him to the starting role.


The visitors put their hosts under more pressure after the re-start and Chabal added his second try of the afternoon soon after.


Yannick Jauzion bagged a fifth try after Clement Poitrenaud supplied a short pass to the centre following a high kick from David Skrela.


Fly-half Skrela contributed four conversions and one penalty while his substitute Lionel Beauxis' penalty made it 39-3.


It could have all been a different story had Italy taken advantage of their early chances.


The Azzurri missed two easy penalties in the opening six minutes before they shot themselves in the foot, with a stranded pass from Gonzalo Canale and another misplaced pass from Andrea Masi leading to France's first two tries.


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Source: RBS Six Nations Official Website