Therejuvenated five-eighth Freddie Michalak scored 19 points as France twice came from behind to defeat Samoa 22-14 in their one-off Test at the Stade de France in Paris.
The win gave France a sweep of their autumn series matches after beating Australia 33-6 and Argentina 39-22.
But they did it the hard way before securing their first November treble in seven years.
Samoa, buoyed by their shock 26-19 win over Six Nations champions Wales last weekend, had stunned a half-full stadium by taking a 7-0 lead on the 15-minute mark.
But France were level just three minutes later thanks to a fine individual try from Michalak.
Five minutes from the interval, Johnston was penalised for an infringement at the ruck and halfback Morgan Parra succeeded with a penalty from 45 metres out to make the score 10-7 with Pisi squandering a penalty on the stroke of halftime.
But Samoa stunned France again after just two minutes of the second half when lock Joe Tekori barrelled over, making the line for a score which went to the video referee.
Pisi converted for a 14-10 lead.
But errors and indiscipline slowly crept into the Samoans' game and that was the cue for Michalak to complete his evening's master-class.
He kicked four penalties from four attempts - the last of which in the 78th minute went in off the post - as France celebrated a not entirely convincing win.
