Ireland's Six Nations all but over after running France close in Dublin
Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations title aspirations were prematurely ended as France underlined their status as tournament favourites by grinding out a 15-13 win in Dublin.
The Irish suffered successive losses at the start of a Six Nations campaign for the first time following scores from Charles Ollivon and Damian Penaud, plus five points from the boot of Matthieu Jalibert.
Ronan Kelleher’s maiden international try helped keep Andy Farrell’s depleted hosts in contention until the final whistle but they were unable to avoid another damaging defeat following last weekend’s loss in Wales.
Les Bleus scrum-half Antoine Dupont – widely regarded as the best player in the world on current form – was largely well marshalled by the hosts, although he showed flashes of brilliance as the French revolution under Fabien Galthie continues apace.
France have won nine of 11 games since the appointment of Galthie, while this defeat piles more pressure on opposing head coach Farrell.
Ireland’s 2020 title aspirations were ended in Paris at the end of October and hopes of avoiding a repeat were dealt a severe blow during a challenging build-up in which a host of key players were ruled out.
Skipper Johnny Sexton, who this week became embroiled in a dispute with a French neurologist regarding his concussion history, and vice-captain James Ryan were unavailable due to head injuries, while scrum-half Conor Murray picked up a hamstring issue and flanker Peter O’Mahony was hit with a three-match ban following his costly red card in Cardiff.
It was the first time in a decade that Ireland had started a Six Nations match without fly-half Sexton or scrum-half Murray, resulting in an inexperienced half-back pairing of Billy Burns and Jamison Gibson-Park.
Fly-half Burns would have been desperate to prove himself a capable understudy to Sexton on the back of his much-discussed mistake which ended the game at the Principality Stadium.
PLAYER RATING
Ireland's lack of attacking clarity cost them as clinical France march on. Here are our Irish player ratings: #IREvFRA https://t.co/fSG8OTG03v
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 14, 2021
His first penalty, after Jalibert had squandered one at the other end, was a wayward effort which showed signs of nerves but he made no mistake with a straightforward second attempt to put Ireland 3-0 ahead 20 minutes in.
With so much at stake so early in the competition, there had been a cagey start on a grey and wet afternoon in the Irish capital.
France were soon temporarily reduced to 14 men when Bernard Le Roux was sin-binned for a deliberate trip on Keith Earls.
Ireland looked to have quickly seized on the indiscipline, only for replays to show James Lowe was pushed into touch by a combination of Brice Dulin and Gael Fickou just before grounding the ball in the left corner.
France have been playing an exciting brand of rugby under former captain Galthie and are rapidly moving into contention for a home World Cup in 2023.
Despite their narrow escape, numerical disadvantage and a lack of possession, the visitors burst into life to claim the opening try of the afternoon.
A series of superb offloads and free-flowing rugby was followed by quick ball from right to left, with a bounce pass catching out Gibson-Park and allowing Fickou to set up Ollivon to register his seventh score in 10 matches.
Jalibert made no mistake with the conversion and added a penalty to put Les Bleus into a 10-3 half-time lead.
France could easily have been further ahead early in the second period but, after rampaging hooker Julien Marchand was tackled close to the line, Dupont’s recovery pass inadvertently hit the head of Paul Willemse.
Following that escape, the hosts suffered a triple blow due to a succession of head injuries.
After Burns was forced for assessment to be replaced by Ross Byrne, stand-in skipper Iain Henderson – the 108th player to captain Ireland – and prop Cian Healy were left bloodied by a nasty clash of heads.
France were well on top at that stage and took control of the contest in the 55th minute courtesy of a try from wing Penaud.
Penaud, one of two men recalled following last weekend’s thumping 50-10 win in Rome, dived over in the right corner following assistance from Jalibert and Dulin.
However, Les Bleus had little time to enjoy the cushion.
Ollivon conceded a penalty from the restart and Ireland’s replacement hooker Kelleher capitalised on a fortuitous bounce from the resulting line-out to touch down.
Substitute fly-half Byrne converted and then reduced the deficit to just two points at 15-13 with a penalty to set up a thrilling final 15 minutes.
Galthie was visibly frustrated when Jalibert hit the posts with a 72nd-minute penalty but Les Bleus were disciplined and doggedly dug in to win in Dublin for the first time since 2011 to keep their title charge on track.
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments