Six Nations: Ireland 27 France 42
Rarely can designs on a place in history have been so utterly and unceremoniously shredded and in such an anticlimactic manner. France were simply stunning, and Ireland were left stunned by the visitors' amalgam of power and pace.
The French surge to victory was the result of an unanswered barrage of 34 points, the impact of a 7-1 bench which worked a charm and the blistering pace of the championship’s standout player, Louis Bielle-Biarrey.
Yet, in many ways this benchmark, runaway win was founded on the Shaun Edwards defence. No matter what some hurlers on the ditch might contend, Ireland did not play especially badly, albeit they attacked quite narrowly at times and were a little static in attack.
Is it easy to over-react to Ireland’s French defeat?
Ireland’s lack of pace was compounded by the loss of James Lowe half an hour before kick-off, and in tandem with Mack Hansen’s absence, left them short of X-factor.
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Rugby games in the modern era can deviate wildly on momentum swings, as was the case when Ireland won by 38-17 on the opening night in Marseille last year. That was Ireland’s highest ever tally away to France and perhaps gave a misleading interpretation of the 80 minutes.
Here, France’s 42 points here was their highest ever tally in Dublin and perhaps also gave a slightly distorted reflection of the game. Certainly Ireland had plenty of the game, be it the early stages, either side of half-time and then in the final throes.
Critically though Ireland gained no reward from their early onslaught, albeit they scored 10 points either side of half-time, while the tries at the end were rendered minor consolation by the French onslaught.
Ultimately, France made 187 tackles to Ireland’s 100. French defenders remained connected throughout this early pressure, François Cros leading the defensive effort as he does with 17 tackles, followed by Grégory Alldritt and lock Mickaël Guillard on 14. They and their fans drew surges of energy from the manner they stepped off the line and made thunderous tackles, even Bielle-Biarrey showing the way on Hugo Keenan, probably Ireland’s best player.
Hindsight being 20-20 vision, there will be plenty of people wondering whether Ireland should have sought to build scoreboard pressure by taking shots at goal, as France would do on three occasions for Thomas Ramos to land three-pointers.
That said, the first penalty up the line would have been a difficult 45-metre kick wide to the left, as was the case with the 12th-minute penalty up the line. In between times, when Sam Prendergast did point to the posts, his kick from 40 metres and in front of the posts, hit the upright.
Coupled with Caelan Doris being held up over the line by Paul Boudehent and Alldritt, who knows how the game might have panned out had Ireland translated all that sustained early pressure into, say, a 10-0 lead? Granted there had been warning signs in the way the French defence steadily drove Ireland back after a good starter play off a lineout to launch Joe McCarthy, their 14-phase defensive set leading to a breakout try by Antoine Dupont which was correctly ruled out.
Of course, if a home team can earn confidence and belief from translating early pressure into points, so it is that an away team can do so from keeping the game scoreless.
Furthermore, the French players would have derived further belief from then drawing first blood when Dupont went blind off a maul to give Bielle-Biarrey a walk-in, aided and abetted as they were by Joe McCarthy’s ill-advised tug of Ramos’s collar from behind.
Even so, there had been further ominous portents of the gulf in pace and power when Dupont and Romain Ntamack countered with long passes across field for Ramos to go around McCarthy with ease and free Bielle-Barrey. The French catch-and-drive for the try also rumbled forward against the McCarthy-less Irish pack.
This echoed around the stadium too, which promptly reverberated to one of many renditions of La Marseillaise. Soon after, Bielle-Biarrey audaciously crosskicked to Damian Penaud near the French try line, and then Dupont flung an underarm, no-look, one-handed pass infield to Ntamack. When Frrench teams start doing things like that, they are sure signs that confidence is coursing through their veins.
Both sets of supporters did join in to lament the sad sight of Dupont being helped off but despite this blow France remained unshaken by that, as well as two Prendergast penalties sandwiching one by Ramos, before Sheehan plundered a try which the Irish converted from the touchline.
Ireland led 13-8, whereupon the game was ripped from them by a quickfire triple whammy. The key score was probably France’s swift response through Boudehent’s try, to be followed by Calvin Nash’s yellow card, the immediate impact of five of France’s seven forward replacements and Bielle-Biarrey’s second try, which was a source of both shock and awe.
Even allowing for France’s brilliance, their whirlwind salvo of 34 unanswered points was book ended with an element of good fortune. Boudehent’s finish should have been over-ruled when video replays clearly showed Thibaud Flament clearing a path beyond the ball for Jean-Baptiste Gros to carry and link with Maxime Lucu. Referee Angus Gardner’s rationale for allowing the try, namely that O’Mahony was “retreating backwards” was bewildering.
But, amid the big carries, the offloads in traffic by Gros and Lucu were brilliant. The ensuing French flurry left no room for any further argument. With Emmanuel Meafou a human wrecking ball off the bench, Ramos landed penalties either side of another try off a power play through Oscar Jegou before the fullback picked off Prendergast’s pass to give the supporting Penaud a gleeful run from halfway to equal Serge Blanco’s French record of 38 tries.
That was the definition of a 14-point turnaround, leaving the score 42-13 instead of 35-20. Although Ireland engineered late tries by Cian Healy, rolling back the years, and Jack Conan, home team and fans alike were in a palpable state of shock.
Nor could those scores in any way dampen the spirits of the magnificent French fans, which made one recall the energy which the travelling Irish supporters gave their team in France during the World Cup. A pity this is not translated to home matches.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 21 mins: Bielle-Biarrey try, 0-5; 35: Prendergast pen, 3-5; 36: Ramos pen, 3-8; 40+3: Prendergast pen, 6-8 (half-time 6-8); 43: Sheehan try, Prendergast con, 13-8; 47: Boudehent try, Ramons con, 13-15; 49: Bielle-Biarrey try, Ramos con, 13-22; 56: Ramos pen, 13-25; 59: Jegou try, Ramos con, 13-32; 68: Ramos pen, 13-35; 74: Penaud, Ramos con, 13-42; 77: Healy try, Prendergast con, 20-42; 80: Conan try, Prendergast con, 27-42.
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Jamie Osborne (Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), Calvin Nash (Munster); Sam Prendergast (Leinster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht); Joe McCarthy (Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Munster); Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster, capt).
Replacements: Jack Conan (Leinster) for O’Mahony, Ryan Baird (Leinster) for Van der Flier (both 48 mins); Jack Crowley (Munster) for Aki (55); James Ryan (Leinster) for McCarthy (57); Thomas Clarkson (Leinster) for Bealham (59); Van der Flier for Doris (65-75); Cian Healy (Leinster) for Porter, Rob Herring (Ulster) for Sheehan, Conor Murray (Munster) for Gibson-Park (all 68).
Yellow cards: McCarthy (20 mins), Nash (47).
FRANCE: Thomas Ramos (Toulouse); Damien Penaud (Bordeaux-Bègles), Pierre-Louis Barassi (Toulouse), Yoram Moefana (Bordeaux-Bègles), Louis Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux-Bègles); Romain Ntamack (Toulouse), Antoine Dupont (Toulouse, capt); Jean-Baptiste Gros (Toulon), Peato Mauvaka (Toulouse), Uini Atonio (La Rochelle); Thibaud Flament (Toulouse), Mickaël Guillard; François Cros (Toulouse), Paul Boudehent (La Rochelle), Grégory Alldritt (La Rochelle).
Replacements: Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux-Bègles) for Dupont (29 mins); Oscar Jegou (La Rochelle) for Barassi (46); Julien Marchand (Toulouse) for Mauvaka, Cyril Baille (Toulouse) for Gros, Emmanuel Meafou (Toulouse) for Guillard, Dorian Aldegheri (Toulouse) for Atonio, Anthony Jelonch (Toulouse) for Alldritt (all 48); Hugo Auradou (Pau) for Flament (75).
Yellow card: Cros (73).
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia).
