Australia coach Robbie Deans believes his team is well placed heading into the Tri-Nations after they extended their early season winning streak to four matches with a 16-point triumph over France in Sydney.

The Wallabies backed up big wins over the Barbarians and Italy (twice) with a solid showing against a French side which pushed New Zealand to the limit in their recent drawn series. While they could only breach Les Bleus' try line once when Matt Giteau crossed midway through the first half, Deans labelled the performance a significant step in the right direction.

"It's been a solid month for us, it's been a really good background for us and that was a better than solid performance to be fair," he said. "There were elements in there that we've been working on that we've had some visible growth in."

He added: "Defence is obvious, the way the boys played the full 80 (minutes), it was a full team effort and everybody got into the game and added something which is something we've been working hard at as well."

Asked if the Wallabies' defensive effort was the best he's seen in his 19-match tenure, Deans replied: "In terms of collective understanding that's probably fair and the French are a capable side.

"For the greater part we suppressed their opportunities and from our perspective we did it in a way that was organised and positive and enthusiastic, and we sustained it.

"So that's encouraging because we know from here we're going to get a serious test, in the Tri-Nations.

"The ante's going to go up, the width of the ground's going to be tested and tonight they challenged us a little bit more in that area but the boys showed that they've got a handle on what's required, and essentially they executed it for the greater part."