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Six Nations

Shaun Edwards calls France's dominance over Ireland 'very, very unusual'

By Ned Lester

45 days ago

PARIS, FRANCE - FEBRUARY 05: Louis Bielle-Biarrey of France celebrates as he runs in to score his team's first try during the Guinness Six Nations 2026 match between France and Ireland at Stade de France on February 05, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Shaun Edwards appeared taken aback by the dominance his France outfit achieved in periods of their Six Nations-opening win over Ireland in Paris, labelling the trends of the game “very unusual” shortly after the final whistle.

Edwards reacted to his team’s win by saying France flipped the script on Andy Farrell’s side, beating Ireland at their own game for large periods in the contest.

The defence coach was full of praise for his team’s attack, particularly in the first half, when France ran out to a 22-0 lead, which was extended to 29-0 in the second half before Ireland found their feet in the contest and got some points on the board.

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“There was (some scintillating rugby played). I thought our attack in the first half was fantastic,” Edwards said on the match broadcast.

“Something Ireland normally does is they dominate possession, they dominate territory. But we did it to them, which was very, very unusual.”

Edwards credited France’s big men in the pack for getting the team on the front foot and putting Ireland under the pump.

“I don’t think (Ireland were lacklustre), I think it was just the quality of the attack they were having to deal with that was the problem for them.

“You’ve got to remember we’ve got some big, powerful units who carry the ball very, very hard. So I can totally understand why it may have looked like they were under pressure, because our attack was marvellous, I thought.”

France’s head coach Fabien Galthié made headlines with his Six Nations squad announcement, omitting household names like Damian Penaud, Gaël Fickou, and Gregory Alldritt, all controversial decisions that clearly haven’t held the team back.

Edwards was sure to stress that the omissions are not permanent, although the new talent coming through the ranks has repaid the faith shown in them.

“The older players, they can always fight their way back in,” he said. “You’ve got to remember that. They’re not gone forever.

“When the new guys came in, I told you they were fast. I told everyone before the game that they were very quick, and I think they showed that, particularly in the first half. The second half, I thought Ireland dominated, and it was much more like an Irish game where they were dominating possession and dominating territory.”

Comments

11 Comments

Pom52 45 days ago

Amazing how two coaches in 6 Nations are ex Wigan Rugby LEAGUE players. Mmmmmm

PB 44 days ago

Relevance?

Soliloquin 45 days ago

I’m really just a low-level fan and what we call a “rugbix” in France, meaning I’ve been passionate about rugby for less than 10 years now, after 30 years of football playing/following.

So my observation here might sound dumb, but tactically, I’ve always found it strange that teams who do knocks on and carrying on fighting, even though the referee has shouted it or indicated it, it seems way more worth to let the other team play a bit of that advantage and kick it, while a scrum could be way more detrimental (except if you’re SA).

And it leads me to the observation from yesterday: France has often prioritised discipline over jackals and preferred conceding a turnover than a penalty. Beirne had 3 of those, and from what I recall, giving the ball back was a smarter move for the French than letting the Irish gain territory with a penalty.

Just like SA’s defence is aggressive and will concede line breaks, but all in all, it will be worth it. A game of probabilities. And I don’t know if what France did yesterday was not part of that gambling.

J V 44 days ago

I have noticed the same thing in thursday’s game ! I think it’s a super good point, but it must be hard for the player to judge on the spot : sometimes the jackler is also about to foul / at the limit and resisting a bit can result in a penalty in their favor… I guess also that depending of the alertness of other players, a quick turnover can be even more dangerous than a slow penalty. But mostly I think you are right, it seems a pretty good deal to avoid giving a penalty and the occupation/possession benefits that come with it.

Your point on knock-ons also makes sense to me, but in that case I think it’s even harder to tactically “let the advantage go away” and start defending properly as soon as it’s over… Seems like a risky operation.

Eric Elwood 45 days ago

Lack of belief I thought in Ireland. They started OK but when they didn’t score and France did, they couldn’t get back into it.

In the first half France absolutely dominated the contestables with better catchers and more numbers around for the crumbs. All their tries bar the 5m scrum (no 2) and pen advantage (last try) came from unstructured play after kicks. Jalibert is made for the new game. Dupont brilliantly allows Jalibert to play and the little man was MOM for me again. Ireland’s contestables with one man chasing looked very 2018.

One thing England should address: The French TV directors are famous for not replaying footage which doesn’t help France. There was zero replays of the scrum try where Dupont appeared to fumble the ball (maybe it wasn’t forward but no replay forthcoming). Also, an early lineout was overruled and given to the Blues by Dickson (lead to a try), no replays were forthcoming for that one either. Something England should address as they will need as level a playing pitch as possible in what will be a difficult match.

SB 45 days ago

Ireland were off the pace for sure. But take nothing away from France, who were so cohesive after only a short time together. The Irish have many players playing together with Leinster but it was the French who were playing together more.

GrahamVF 45 days ago

Missing 35 tackles - 19 in the first half is a sign of a team whose heart is not in it. They were being driven back in contact both ways and the lack of resolve was so evident when the lightweight wing broke three tackles having been half stopped in the first and within 1m of the touch line.

Hammer Head 45 days ago

The fruits of Galthie’s labour coming through.

France will need to work on their packs conditioning by the time they reach England. Ireland clawed back points when France hit a lull in energy.

The English defence is much better and their conditioning and speed around the park is much better.

JPM 45 days ago

Agreed.

Some big difference with the preparation of the Autumn series which explains the result : 10 full days of preparation, intensive work on defense-discipline and high balls/contestable kicking, key players coming back from injury (Dupont, Guillard, Attissogbe,…), clear decisions on 3 “should do better” players.

Still some weaknesses: tight head props, deep energy loss linked to the replacement phase (like vs the Boks), even if bonus point is secured keep the energy and score growing.

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