World Cup finalists France handed new coach Philippe Saint-Andre a winning start in the Six Nations with a 30-12 victory over Italy at a freezing Stade de France on Saturday.

Tries from Aurelien Rougerie, Julien Malzieu, Vincent Clerc and debutant Wesley Fofana, allied with 10 points from Dimitri Yachvili’s boot guided France past a toothless Italy side that dominated territory and possession for large periods of the game.

The visitors rarely threatened the French line and when they did launch an attack, were well marshalled by the home side, their points coming from Kris Burton’s drop-goal and two penalties, and a third penalty by Tobias Botes.

“It’s a first victory. You have to have a smile,” said Saint-Andre, who took over from Marc Lievremont after the World Cup where France lost 8-7 to New Zealand in the final.

“As a coach, you seek perfection, but today we saw a great defence, a good discipline and we even scored four tries.”

Italy captain Sergio Parisse was left ruing his side’s lack of cutting edge.

“We knew coming here for a result would be tough against a team who are World Cup vice champions, at home,” Parisse said.

“We showed ambition, a desire to play, we had lots of ball but we needed to be more cynical because we had chances to score but didn’t.”