THE WORLD’S GREATEST player had the crowd on their feet, but not in the circumstances he would have wanted.
Just 28 minutes into a showpiece Six Nations fixture, Antoine Dupont’s afternoon was done. Dupont, scrambling on the floor after tackling Dan Sheehan, felt the full weight of Tadhg Beirne crumple his right knee, the Ireland lock collapsing onto the scrum-half as Andrew Porter nudged his teammate into the contact. The French felt aggrieved but we can probably file that one under ‘rugby incident.’
Was this the moment France’s daring 7/1 split came back to bite them on the derrière?
Nope. Despite fears that risky forward-heavy bench selection might suck the jouez from Fabien Galthié’s side, instead it had the desired effect of powering France’s end game in a performance much more dominant than the final scoreline suggested.
Antoine Dupont. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
There was some fortune in the fact Dupont’s exit could be facilitated with a straight swap for scrum-half Maxime Lucu, the sole back in the French replacements, avoiding any drastic reshuffle in the backline. When Dupont limped out his team led 5-0. By the time the sweet mercy of full time arrived for Ireland, a fabulous, ferocious French team had powered to a 42-27 win.
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What started as an absorbing, high-octane Test match descended into a sobering defeat for Simon Easterby’s defending champions. The Grand Slam dream is dead and France are now in pole position to lift the Six Nations trophy when they welcome Scotland to the Stade de France next weekend.
Where did all go wrong? The big swing arrived across a manic third quarter. Ireland started the second half like a storm as Dan Sheehan muscled over from a maul, but over a lethal five minute spell France had struck to level the game and then move into a lead they would never let slip, with Paul Boudehant and Louis Bielle-Biarrey crossing in the 46th and 49th minutes.
Ireland will rue their failure to capitalise on an opening quarter in which the possession and territory all went in their favour, but their efforts failed to yield any rewards against a fierce French defence.
While the home side fell into some smart attacking shapes and flirted with the idea of putting some points on the board, the French smacked into every collision and swarmed every breakdown. More than once they drove Irish players back in the tackle. Ireland, looking to make something happen, found themselves running into blind alleys and making poor decisions. The closest they came was when the excellent Caelan Doris was held up after Ireland had managed to force their way over the line.
It was a day to take your chances.
There is no other team like France, who are a bit like the loose canon on a stag party – they do things they probably shouldn’t, but it looks fun and you can get a bit caught up in it yourself. Dupont was doing Dupont things like flicking an audacious behind the back pass into Romain Ntamack’s hands. Bielle-Biarrey surprised everyone in the stadium by kicking across his own posts to Damian Penaud. Penaud, isolated in the 22, ignored a safe exit option by trying to take on Jamie Osborne despite being clearly gassed. These are not the decisions of a logical rugby team but they are also the moments that make the French such a thrilling watch.
France's Damian Penaud and Pierre-Louis Barassi tackle Sam Prendergast. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Ireland were the ones who paid the price for their loose moments. Joe McCarthy went off script to reef Thomas Ramos back as France attacked down the left, with Bielle-Biarrey scoring the game’s first try from the resulting play. Yellow card, no complaints. Thirty-five minutes in, after Sam Prendergast had kicked Ireland’s first points, Ireland were pinged for crossing, handing Ramos three points on a plate. There was time for Prendergast to sink a monster long-range penalty but France were 8-6 up at the break.
The real chaos was to follow. The presence of those seven forwards on the French bench had rumbled like thunder in the distance and Galthie introduced six of them in one go 48 minutes, wedged between those two killer French tries, while Oscar Jégou came in as makeshift centre shortly before.
First, flanker Paul Boudehant bashed over from close range after a passage of play which saw Ireland lose Calvin Nash to a yellow card for a high tackle, while Thibaud Flament was lucky to avoid punishment for an off-the-ball tackle on Peter O’Mahony, which helped open the door for Flament to score.
Soon they were over again, and this time there was nothing for the home crowd to nitpick. Attacking from right to left, France worked an overload out wide and Penaud hit his fellow winger, Bielle-Biarrey. Give him a ball and a yard of grass. The Bordeaux man hit the gas and kicked through to burn Robbie Henshaw and Prendergast for a sublime solo score. From that point on the clock simply ticked towards the inevitable.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored a wonderful solo try. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Ireland did well to keep fighting, adding late tries through Cian Healy and Jack Conan, but they were long beaten.
France’s fifth and final try summed it all up. Five metres out, Prendergast shoved a pass into the arms of Ramos, who darted clear, before tagging in Penaud to run the last leg. Ramos turned to celebrate while, Prendergast, sprinting hard in an effort to amend his error, gave up the chase just as Penaud eased toward the line.
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France serve up intoxicating blend of flair and ferocity on sobering day for Ireland
THE WORLD’S GREATEST player had the crowd on their feet, but not in the circumstances he would have wanted.
Just 28 minutes into a showpiece Six Nations fixture, Antoine Dupont’s afternoon was done. Dupont, scrambling on the floor after tackling Dan Sheehan, felt the full weight of Tadhg Beirne crumple his right knee, the Ireland lock collapsing onto the scrum-half as Andrew Porter nudged his teammate into the contact. The French felt aggrieved but we can probably file that one under ‘rugby incident.’
Was this the moment France’s daring 7/1 split came back to bite them on the derrière?
Nope. Despite fears that risky forward-heavy bench selection might suck the jouez from Fabien Galthié’s side, instead it had the desired effect of powering France’s end game in a performance much more dominant than the final scoreline suggested.
There was some fortune in the fact Dupont’s exit could be facilitated with a straight swap for scrum-half Maxime Lucu, the sole back in the French replacements, avoiding any drastic reshuffle in the backline. When Dupont limped out his team led 5-0. By the time the sweet mercy of full time arrived for Ireland, a fabulous, ferocious French team had powered to a 42-27 win.
What started as an absorbing, high-octane Test match descended into a sobering defeat for Simon Easterby’s defending champions. The Grand Slam dream is dead and France are now in pole position to lift the Six Nations trophy when they welcome Scotland to the Stade de France next weekend.
Where did all go wrong? The big swing arrived across a manic third quarter. Ireland started the second half like a storm as Dan Sheehan muscled over from a maul, but over a lethal five minute spell France had struck to level the game and then move into a lead they would never let slip, with Paul Boudehant and Louis Bielle-Biarrey crossing in the 46th and 49th minutes.
Ireland will rue their failure to capitalise on an opening quarter in which the possession and territory all went in their favour, but their efforts failed to yield any rewards against a fierce French defence.
While the home side fell into some smart attacking shapes and flirted with the idea of putting some points on the board, the French smacked into every collision and swarmed every breakdown. More than once they drove Irish players back in the tackle. Ireland, looking to make something happen, found themselves running into blind alleys and making poor decisions. The closest they came was when the excellent Caelan Doris was held up after Ireland had managed to force their way over the line.
It was a day to take your chances.
There is no other team like France, who are a bit like the loose canon on a stag party – they do things they probably shouldn’t, but it looks fun and you can get a bit caught up in it yourself. Dupont was doing Dupont things like flicking an audacious behind the back pass into Romain Ntamack’s hands. Bielle-Biarrey surprised everyone in the stadium by kicking across his own posts to Damian Penaud. Penaud, isolated in the 22, ignored a safe exit option by trying to take on Jamie Osborne despite being clearly gassed. These are not the decisions of a logical rugby team but they are also the moments that make the French such a thrilling watch.
Ireland were the ones who paid the price for their loose moments. Joe McCarthy went off script to reef Thomas Ramos back as France attacked down the left, with Bielle-Biarrey scoring the game’s first try from the resulting play. Yellow card, no complaints. Thirty-five minutes in, after Sam Prendergast had kicked Ireland’s first points, Ireland were pinged for crossing, handing Ramos three points on a plate. There was time for Prendergast to sink a monster long-range penalty but France were 8-6 up at the break.
The real chaos was to follow. The presence of those seven forwards on the French bench had rumbled like thunder in the distance and Galthie introduced six of them in one go 48 minutes, wedged between those two killer French tries, while Oscar Jégou came in as makeshift centre shortly before.
First, flanker Paul Boudehant bashed over from close range after a passage of play which saw Ireland lose Calvin Nash to a yellow card for a high tackle, while Thibaud Flament was lucky to avoid punishment for an off-the-ball tackle on Peter O’Mahony, which helped open the door for Flament to score.
Soon they were over again, and this time there was nothing for the home crowd to nitpick. Attacking from right to left, France worked an overload out wide and Penaud hit his fellow winger, Bielle-Biarrey. Give him a ball and a yard of grass. The Bordeaux man hit the gas and kicked through to burn Robbie Henshaw and Prendergast for a sublime solo score. From that point on the clock simply ticked towards the inevitable.
Ireland did well to keep fighting, adding late tries through Cian Healy and Jack Conan, but they were long beaten.
France’s fifth and final try summed it all up. Five metres out, Prendergast shoved a pass into the arms of Ramos, who darted clear, before tagging in Penaud to run the last leg. Ramos turned to celebrate while, Prendergast, sprinting hard in an effort to amend his error, gave up the chase just as Penaud eased toward the line.
Les Bleus had long been out of Ireland’s reach.
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