FRANCE 29 (Sebastien Tillouse-Borde, Teddy Thomas tries; Camille Lopez 2 conversions; Camille Lopez 4, Rory Kockott penalties) defeated WALLABIES 26 (Adam Ashley-Cooper, Rob Simmons tries; Bernard Foley 5 penalties, 2 conversions) at Stade de France on Sunday morning. Referee: Nigel Owens.

--

Some will say it was a Kurtley Beale distraction and others will call it a Stade de France curse, but whatever way you paint it Michael Cheika tasted his first defeat as Wallabies coach as they spluttered and stumbled through a brutal contest in Paris on Sunday morning.

Somehow the Wallabies almost escaped with an unlikely win, but the tense tense 29-26 loss serves as a reminder that Cheika is still building his team after less than a month in the top job.

There's plenty of room for improvement and France outmuscled the Wallabies at their own game. Both teams scored two tries but ill-discipline cost Australia.

Cheika admitted he was shocked when his team was in the contest in the last-minute of the game after making too many errors.

"It wasn't a good effort around the basics of the game," Cheika said.

"Too many simple mistakes at simple moments, didn't give us a chance to get on to the front foot. Had good chances to launch and regularly turned it over.

"What we didn't do was vary our game enough ... our game is certainly not about trucking up big forwards all the time. You've got to have all the options open."

Troubled star Beale somewhere on a plane over Asia on his way to Europe to revive his Test career as the Wallabies and Cheika hit the first hurdle of their new era when they were rattled and crunched by a fired-up French side.

Beale will arrive in Dublin on Sunday night Australian time with back-rower Jake Schatz. The duo have been called up as reinforcements for Tests against Ireland and England.

Beale has been exiled from Wallabies camp for six weeks after he was fined $45,000 for sending a lewd picture message to former team business manager Di Patston.

The Wallabies are adamant news of his impending arrival won't be a distraction and he has the full support of the team, but even his on-field brilliance wouldn't have saved Australia from defeat.

They spilled regulation possession, slipped over in wet conditions and failed to build any pressure on an opposition intent on getting revenge for a series defeat to the Wallabies earlier this year.

The scrum was strong in the first half, but it showed signs of succumbing to sustained pressure as French five-eighth Camille Lopez kicked France to the lead in the second half.

Trailing by 10 points with six minutes remaining, the Wallabies were given one last chance to steal victory when French halfback Sebastien Tillous-Borde was sin-binned for cynical play.

It was the glimmer of hope the Wallabies needed and their best attacking opportunity of the second half got them back into the contest when lock Rob Simmons latched on to a Quade Cooper pass to score.

It cut the gap to 29-26 and Cooper's injection gave the Wallabies a new attacking edge.

They seemed destined to score in the last minute to steal the most unlikely win, but prop Ben Alexander dropped the ball in contact with the try-line beckoning and France killed off the last 60 seconds.

The three-point defeat probably flattered the Wallabies in that they struggled to hold on to possession or build momentum long enough to dent the French line.

It was just France's third win against Australia since 2005 and torpedoed the Wallabies' hopes of an unbeaten tour. France's last triumph over the Wallabies was at Stade de France when they smashed Australia 33-6 in 2012.

But it's not all doom and gloom, snatching a win would have been a magic trick given the limited opportunities they had.

Cooper showed impressive signs in his 20-minute cameo and the scrum held its own for most of the match before starting to crack late in the game.

Beale and Schatz could come into selection contention this week to add a fresh injection of enthusiasm.

There was some initial resistance from high-ranking ARU officials to have Beale on tour so soon after his off-field troubles.

ARU chief executive Bill Pulver was in the crowd in Paris. Returning Wallaby James O'Connor also made the trip to Paris for the game.

Beale's presence will divide opinion in Australia, but he will get his chance to redeem himself on the field.

"It was very tough game, the crowd was really into it. France were very physical, we've got a lot to look at for next week," said skipper Michael Hooper.

Cheika wants a power game from his team. But it was France making all of the metres and muscling up, even when they didn't have the ball. They smashed anyone willing to take them on in the middle and cut off the Wallabies' attack out wide.

They scored the first two tries as the Wallabies clung desperately to penalty goals to stay in the contest.

The home side opened up an 11-point lead when elusive French winger Teddy Thomas made five Wallabies defenders look like statues.

It came after the Wallabies had a chance to get off to a dream start when 50-gamer Sekope Kepu charged down a kick 30 seconds into the match.

The ball fell to lock Rob Simmons just metres from the line, but he fumbled the ball and bombed a certain try in the opening minute.

But it was France who got to celebrate first and the home crowd erupted when halfback Sebastien Tillouse-Borde scouted out from the base of a ruck moments later to score the opener.

France coach Philippe Saint-Andre said the win was a sign his team is on the right path in the build up to the World Cup.

"It is an important game 10 months ahead of the World Cup and important to show the world we can be competitive against the biggest team," Saint-Andre said.

"It was a tough one, but it was well deserved. When we had the ball at the end we were able to put them in trouble. It was a fierce battle."

France had no troubles mastering the conditions, swinging the ball wide and using the entire width of the field to stretch the ragged Wallabies.

Cheika would have been filthy with the woeful defence, but it sparked the Wallabies into action and Adam Ashley-Cooper spun through two tacklers to get Australia's first try in the 34th minute.

But the Wallabies paid the price of ill-discipline early in the second half, conceding too many penalties as France opened up a seven-point buffer.

Even the ever-reliable Israel Folau appeared rattled, spilling a high ball and slipping over as the French attempted to blast Australia out of the contest.