Giroud equals Henry's record as France crush Australia

Olivier Giroud netted twice to become France's joint record scorer as they fought back to put Australia to the sword, opening their World Cup defence with a 4-1 Group D win on Tuesday that silenced talk of a holders' curse.

Giroud scored his 50th and 51st international goals to equal Thierry Henry's national record.

Australia had taken a stunning lead at Al Janoub Stadium when Craig Goodwin applied a super finish to Mathew Leckie's cross after nine minutes, but France levelled when Adrien Rabiot headed home. Giroud put the holders ahead at 2-1 with a tap-in after 32 minutes and added his second in the 71st to make the score 4-1 with a header from a Kylian Mbappe cross.

Drafted into the team to play his 115th international after Karim Benzema was ruled out of the tournament by injury on Saturday, Giroud equalled the record set by Henry in his 123-match international career from 1997 to 2010.

Kylian Mbappe's glancing header in the 68th minute was followed by Giroud's 51st international goal three minutes later, drawing him level with Thierry Henry as France's all-time top marksman.

Didier Deschamps' side, who lead Group D after rivals Denmark and Tunisia drew 0-0 earlier on Tuesday, ended a run of poor starts for World Cup holders, after the previous three -- Italy, Spain, and Germany -- all failed to win their openers.