Ireland rally in second half but outclassed by France in Six Nations opener
Ireland's Jack Crowley and France's Nicolas Depoortere in action in Paris. Picture: INPHO/Billy Stickland
Five-try France brushed off Andy Farrell’s Ireland with ease to open their Six Nations defence in style with a bonus point victory at the Stade de France on Thursday night.
France almost scored in the second minute with a typical flowing move, only for former captain Charles Ollivon to knock on with the line almost within his reach.
Ireland pushed the French back into their 22 thanks to a brilliant 50-22 kick from full back Jamie Osborne, but the French quickly got out, and they capitalised on a loose Sam Prendergast fly hack kick to attack down their left, with the brilliant Louis Bielle-Biarrey surviving attempted tackles from Jamison Gibson-Park, Prendergast and Jacob Stockdale to run in an excellent try in the 13th minute.
In the 22nd minute, Prendergast carried back into his end-goal area and popped a dangerous pass to Tommy O’Brien, who was quickly swallowed up. From the resultant French five-metre scrum Antoine Dupont popped to Matthieu Jalibert, and he blasted through O’Brien and Prendergast easily to score.
Thomas Ramos slotted a simple penalty after Joe McCarthy had charged in blatantly from the side to make it 15-0, as Ireland’s pre-game strategy of constantly kicking possession away was clearly not working.
In the 34th minute, Irish lock Joe McCarthy dropped a simple-looking pass and the French quickly pounced to gobble up possession. They went through the phases and after pulling the Irish team around they went right and the second rows combined with the excellent Mickael Guillard popping back inside to Ollivon to score, to ensure that the French enjoyed a commanding 22-0 lead at half time, in what was Ireland’s worst first half in a Six Nations game since the corresponding fixture 20 years ago.
The French bonus point was achieved by minute 47 as Dupont’s deft kick was hacked on by Ramos and Bielle-Biarrey was on hand to collect and walk in another try.
Both sides emptied the bench at this point, and it was Ireland who came out the better of these changes. They finally got the ugly duck off the scoreboard with a fine try in the 59th minute when Jack Crowley, Prendergast and Stuart McCloskey combined to send Nick Timoney under the posts.
Two minutes later, Ireland crossed again with Munster loose head Michael Milne crashing over on his birthday, in what was his Six Nations debut, and the score started to look more respectable from an Irish perspective, as Ireland started to get much more joy once they stopped kicking the ball away.
France will have been disappointed with their second-half effort, but they did have the last say when right wing Theo Attissogbe evaded the attempted tackle by Crowley to cross in the right corner with the last play to ensure that the final score reflected France’s dominance throughout.
T Ramos (1 pen, 4 cons), L Bielle-Biarrey (2 tries), M Jalibert, C Ollivon, T Attissogbe (1 try each).
S Prendergast (2 cons), N Timoney, M Milne (1 try each).
T Ramos; T Attissogbe, N Depoortere, Y Moefana, L Bielle-Biarrey; M Jalibert, A Dupont (c); J-B Gros, J Marchand, D Aldegheri; C Ollivon, M Guillard; O Jegou, F Cros, A Jelonch.
E Meafou, P Mauvaka, R Neti, R Montagne, H Auradou, K Gourges for J-B Gros, J Marchand, D Aldegheri, C Ollivon, M Guillard, Y Moefana (49), L Nouchi for F Cros (63), B Serin for A Dupont (73).
J Osborne; T O'Brien, G Ringrose, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; J Loughman, D Sheehan, T Clarkson; J McCarthy, T Beirne; C Prendergast, J van der Flier, C Doris (c).
J Ryan, J Conan, N Timoney and J Crowley for J McCarthy, J van der Flier, C Prendergast and T O’Brien(49), M Milne and F Bealham for J Loughman and T Clarkson (59), R Kelleher for D Sheehan (62), C Casey for J Gibson-Park (73).
Karl Dickson (RFU)
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