VAR made its World Cup bow in Kazan, although no one will be rushing to view the replay reel of this rather dour French performance as they laboured past a spirited Australian outfit, writes Graeme McGarry.

A second-half penalty, awarded after consultation with the video assistant referees, gave Antoine Griezmann the chance to put France ahead, but Mile Jedinak’s own spot-kick immediately brought the Australians level.

It looked as though that might have been enough to earn them a famous point as the French struggled for creativity, but Paul Pogba’s powerful surge brought the winner through sheer brawn.

With the explosive attacking talent on display for the French, it promised to be a long afternoon for the Socceroos, and the opening minutes bore that out. Kylian Mbappe, Pogba and Griezmann all stung the palms of Australian keeper Matt Ryan in the first six minutes, and it looked as though an early breakthrough was forthcoming. It never arrived though, and the Australians grew into the game as they also grew in confidence.

In fact, they came closest to scoring as former St Mirren man Aaron Mooy’s free-kick was diverted towards his own goal by France defender Lucas Hernandez.

The French huffed and puffed again at the start of the second half, but as Griezmann tried to latch onto a through ball, he was halted by the sliding challenge of Joshua Risdon, with referee Andres Cunha signaling that the Australian got a foot on the ball. There was no doubt though that his follow-through caught the heel of the Atletico Madrid superstar to bring him to the deck, and after consulting the footage the Uruguyan official agreed, much to the Australians fury. Ryan didn’t even move as Greizmann blasted the ball home.

Perhaps Barcelona’s Samuel Umititi shared the Australian’s sense of grievance, because at least that would offer some sort of explanation for what he did next. A cross into the area from Mooy looked to be drifting out of play until the French defender inexplicably threw up an arm to punch the ball high above his head and gift-wrap the Aussies a penalty of their own. Aston Villa midfielder Jedinak coolly placed the ball past Hugo Lloris to level things up almost immediately. That prompted French head coach Didier Deschamps to pitch in Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud, with Griezmann surprisingly making way, while Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic took his leave with 20 minutes remaining after a decent showing to be replaced by former Ross County midfielder Jackson Irvine.

Just as the favourites looked to be running out of puff and out of ideas, Pogba took matters into his own hands, bulldozing his way through the centre of the park and forcing the ball off the leg of the luckless Aziz Behich and up over the despairing dive of Ryan. The ball hit the underside of the bar and bounced down over the line, with no need to consult the replays on this occasion.

It might not have been pretty but the French manager cared not a jot.

“It was not easy, but winning the first match is very important,” Deschamps told the French newspaper L’Equipe. “It was complicated with a team who gave us a hard time.

“It’s hard to explain everything. We missed a change of pace, a little juice.

“At the end of the match, we had a few more opportunities. It’s hard for everyone, apart from the first match of the Russians against Saudi Arabia [a 5-0 win].

“We did the job. But we can do better, do a lot better.”