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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Mon Ami,French flair at its best.

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

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

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.

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.

Blow away indeed.

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.

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.

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.