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Six Nations

France blow Ireland away to start Six Nations title defence in style

By PA

45 days ago

Matthieu Jalibert/ PA

Ireland endured a punishing night in Paris as reigning champions France launched their Guinness Six Nations title defence by romping to a 36-14 bonus-point victory.

Andy Farrell’s men were unfancied underdogs ahead of the tournament opener at a soggy Stade de France amid an ongoing transitional phase hampered by a host of injuries.

The depleted visitors were duly outclassed as Antoine Dupont marked his first international match since rupturing knee ligaments in Dublin 11 months ago by leading Les Bleus to a statement success.

VIDEO

Louis Bielle-Biarrey resumed the fine form which saw him crowned player of the championship in 2025 with two tries, either side of scores from Matthieu Jalibert and Charles Ollivon.

Ireland eventually hit back through quick-fire consolations from replacements Nick Timoney and Michael Milne, converted by Sam Prendergast.

Match Summary

Penalty Goals

Tries

Conversions

Drop Goals

139

Carries

116

Line Breaks

Turnovers Lost

Turnovers Won

But, despite a powerful impact from the Irish bench, France completed the job through wing Theo Attissogbe, with full-back Thomas Ramos landing a penalty and four conversions.

Pockets of travelling fans peppered a partisan home crowd as Ireland returned to the French capital for the first time since their agonising quarter-final exit to New Zealand at the 2023 World Cup.

The away team were carved open inside two minutes, only for French lock Ollivon to knock on within touching distance of the tryline following Bielle-Biarrey’s chipped pass.

Ireland initially responded well but there was no reprieve 11 minutes later.

With claims of a forward pass in the build-up, electric wing Bielle-Biarrey beat three players to cross on the left after fly-half Prendergast volleyed the ball into play instead of conceding touch.

Ireland wobbled again nine minutes later.

Wing Tommy O’Brien was forced to dot down behind his own line after being put under pressure by a poor pass from Prendergast and, from the resulting five-metre scrum, Dupont slipped in half-back partner Jalibert for a simple score.

In the first championship curtain-raiser to be played on a Thursday – to avoid a clash with Friday’s opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics – the one-way traffic continued.

Ramos slotted a penalty before Ollivon finished a fine team try as France ended a dominant opening period 22-0 in front.

Fabien Galthie’s side had the bonus point in the bag within seven minutes of the restart courtesy of the jet-heeled Bielle-Biarrey again bursting clear down the left.

With the contest approaching the hour mark, Ireland appeared in serious danger of suffering the humiliation of being nilled.

Flanker Timoney touched down after Stuart McCloskey broke the line to prevent that fate before prop Milne powered over three minutes later to spark slim hopes of a comeback with his first international try.

Ireland were in the ascendancy for large parts of the final quarter.

Yet they were unable to make further dents on the scoreboard and succumbed to defeat in their opening Six Nations fixture for the first time since 2021 after French wing Attissogbe dived over at the death.

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Comments

103 Comments

aO 38 days ago

Agree, it needs to be called out otherwise it'll get like soccer.

I don't watch soccer anymore because the sport is secondary.

aO 42 days ago

Nobody on here makes any reference to the speed and subsequent non interference of the Ref/officials when France had the ball. Two forward passes in two first tries. Offsides ignored, and two knock ons.

I'm not making excuses for Irish lethargy but when only one side is being reffed you can sit back as an official culminating in a non yellow for the star Dupont at 60 mins, although Gardiner said yellow which Dixon ignored..

The most agregious bit was French TV Direction and non replay of French missteps while replaying over and over any Irish errors.

This is not new in French Rugby yet WR ignore it ? Watch ot Eng for same treatment.

cw 44 days ago

Williams, Lomax, Sititi, Ofa, Aumua, Lakai - all selected for the Nov 24 test for Paris - were unavailable through injury for the first test. So not full strength in key positions in my view. But agree the team / combinations were settled by second.

PMcD 45 days ago

How on earth was Clarkson given a Lions call up? That was so insulting to the players that missed out.

RA 45 days ago

Mon Ami,French flair at its best.

Hammer Head 45 days ago

If Louis Bielle-Biarrey was a kiwi, he’d be the best player in the world right now.

MM 44 days ago

You mean in New Zealand… because he's already the best in the world

PMcD 45 days ago

If LB-B was South African, that would be a really tricky decision for Rassie. 🤣🤣🤣

I loved how he did the best part of 3 or 4 irish defenders in the width of a phone box down that touch line.

RA 45 days ago

Absolutely,what a player.

JW 45 days ago

Haha because the All Blacks are a better side right?

I was actually going to say this in reply to your Ramos post but I resolved to not trolling you.

JW 45 days ago

Any experience is positive. His point was that it’s not as positive as their opposition.

TheNotoriousFig 45 days ago

Great stuff from the French. Running threats throughout the team and the ball staying alive. Wonderful to see that sort of play, bummer that it was against us.

Lots of adversity and learnings there for those boys. Hopefully it stands to them but Paris has been the end of a number of international careers over the decades. The French team look miles ahead in terms of cohesion and purpose. Our lads did not control possession of the ball when we had it and IMO kicked contestables too often. Prendy the Younger had such a mixed bag of nice and WTF moments. He seems to have hit that phase where Russel was a few years ago where outside backs are picking off his passes. Frankly, no-one really played to potential, the fightback was good to see but ultimately they were well worth their 15 point victory.

If France can sustain that style then there’s no stopping them in this tournament.

Eric Elwood 45 days ago

Took my back to the 80s. Was expecting to see Jean Pierre Rives at one stage!

JB 45 days ago

This felt less like an upset and more like a reminder. They turned the volume up from minute one and never looked back. Ireland showed some life off the bench, but you don’t spot a side like this 22 points in Paris and expect a fairytale. overall this was a fairly brutal reality check rather than a shock result. Until Ireland regain colission dominance, every fly-half, every backline shape, and every kicking plan will look worse than it actually is.

Hammer Head 44 days ago

100%

Kia koe 45 days ago

Blow away indeed.

PR 45 days ago

Ireland have a physicality problem. They don’t have any at the moment. Can probably count the number of dominant tackles they made tonight on one hand. If you can’t stop a team on the gainline you have no chance.

PMcD 45 days ago

I think they need to change the order around to improve the physicality, I personally would start Edogbo with with McCarthy in the second row and move Beirne to 6 for the next game.

The need to increase the physicality of carries and shore up the defence.

I would then bring Ryan, Timony & Prendergast off the bench.

I think they will get better but Faz Snr looked shell shocked at the end during interview, I think they were far worse than he expected but do not take anything away from FRA, few teams would live with them the way they played in that 1st half.

Soliloquin 45 days ago

They seemed gassed out. Again, too many games last year, post Lions season. That’s what could cost English, although they had less players involved.

(French fan here)

Kia koe 45 days ago

They have more problems than that.

Soliloquin 45 days ago

I would temper a bit that victory with a many factors against the Irish team:

-a depleted team with lots of injuries in key positions (props, Hansen and Keenan) which had a big impact at scrums and especially in the air. In that weather, Hansen and Keenan would have secured way more balls

-we’re in a post-Lions tour season, with 18 players taking part in that exhausting journey to Australia. It’s always difficult for B&I teams after that.

-the possible decline, or rather lack of game time for newcomers against big nations. France is criticized for Summer Tours, but this is where Guillard, Jégou, Attissogbé or many other key players started to appear in the French team. Ireland rarely plays with less experienced players against Tier 1 nations.

On the other hand, the weather should have been at Ireland’s advantage, and France also had a few missing elements, with Flament, Ntamack, Boudehent, Tatafu, and Atonio of course missing. I’m deliberately not citing Alldritt, Fickou or Penaud, because it was a choice.

Ed the Duck 45 days ago

“France is criticized for Summer Tours, but this is where Guillard, Jégou, Attissogbé or many other key players started to appear in the French team. ”

They were roundly condemned by one so called expert on here in particular for that! Didn’t look good at the time and has deteriorated badly from there since…🤣

Kia koe 45 days ago

I’m an Irish rugby fan.

No need to factor anything in to be honest.

They were bad. I wasn’t angry while watching. Just realizing how bad this game was for them.

Hope they bounce back.

JW 45 days ago

A good morning watch. France very lucky but beautiful to watch. Love how they just throw a game open like the All Black, and former Les Blues teams, used to.

PMcD 45 days ago

It’s been a few years since an AB team played like that in attack JW.

It’s also why I told you that a full strength side are above the AB’s, which the rankings will reflect at some stage.

cw 45 days ago

It was ok. Was disappointed to see Ireland struggle so badly for rhythm in the first half and I found the amount of kicking and volleyball to be incredibly frustrating to watch. Is this the apex of modern rugby now? The saving grace is as you say the French still know how to throw the ball around - but the first half was like watching sparks of magic in a sea of aerial ping pong.

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