France 33-10 Ireland
Ireland haven't won in Paris since a 27-25 win 10 years ago
Saturday, 13, Feb 2010 05:43
By Tom Powell.
France made it two wins out of two in the Six Nations as they eased to a comfortable 33-10 win over champions Ireland at the Stade de France.
The encounter was built up as a Championship decider and on the evidence of these 80 minutes it won't be Ireland getting their hands on the trophy this year.
But as poor as the Irish performance was take nothing away from France who not only put together a free flowing attacking performance but were also assured in defence as they shrugged aside last year's Grand Slam winners.
Lack of discipline and ideas in attack let Ireland down in the first half and France capitalised scoring tries through William Servat and Yannick Jauzion to lead 17-3.
A further score from Poitrenaud and eight points from the boot of Morgan Parra put the hosts out of sight before Paddy Wallace grabbed a consolation for Ireland.
Stephen Ferris recovered from a knee injury to start with Kevin McLaughlin the man to miss out whilst Keith Earls comes in on the wing in place of Andrew Trimble.
Those were the only two changes to the side that were unimpressive against Italy with Ronan O'Gara keeping his place at fly-half and Leo Cullen filling in for the injured Donncha O'Callaghan.
France were forced into two changes from the side that saw off Scotland 18-9 at Murrayfield with Vincent Clerc and Alexis Palisson in for injured duo Aurelien Rougerie and Benjamin Fall.
Both sides enjoyed possession in their opponents 22 early on but neither defence gave an inch under strong pressure.
France were looking to run the ball at every opportunity but it almost proved to be their undoing as Ireland turned defence into attack and came within metres of scoring.
Jamie Heaslip barged his way to within five metres of the French line but successive phases couldn't break down the blue wall before O'Gara's grubber kick was charged down and the fly-half was penalised for holding on.
Ireland were even closer on 16 minutes after a superb piece of individual play from Gordon D'Arcy.
The centre cut back and through the French backline and chipped over full-back Clement Poitrenaud but the bounce evaded the Irish attackers and France escaped with a 22 metre drop-out.
Ireland's bright start was wiped out in an instant. Francois Trinh-Duc made a half break and the fly-half's offload would have found Morgan Parra ten metres from the whitewash had prop Cian Healy not taken the scrum-half out early.
The visitors were down to 14 men for ten minutes and Parra picked himself up and kicked France into a 3-0 lead.
Ireland were lucky not to be down to 13 men minutes later after Jerry Flannery's cowardly hack at the shins of wing Palisson. The Frenchmen came off injured and Flannery could find himself cited for the misdemeanour.
The resulting penalty brought France to within five metres of the Irish line and after successive scrums the ball was spun out to hooker Servat who bulldozed Tomas O'Leary and scored under the posts.
Parra's conversion made it 10-0 but the lead was cut to seven from the kick-off after Fulgence Ouedraogo illegally blocked Paul O'Connell's attempted tackle and O'Gara slotted the penalty.
No sooner had they dragged themselves back in it they were further behind as Jauzion touched down.
Ireland handed possession to France from the kick-off and Mathieu Bastareaud punched a hole in the Irish defence before the ball found its way to the other French centre and he outmuscled Brian O'Driscoll to score.
Parra added the extras and France were in total control with eight minutes of the half remaining.
Ireland had a huge chance to cut the gap in the dying seconds of the half but, a metre from the French line, failed to spin the ball wide and eventually knocked on, France were let off led 17-3 at the break.
Into the second half and the impetus was on Ireland to attack but it was France that looked the more likely to extend their lead.
Clerc came close to a five-pointer after blocking O'Driscoll's kick and fly hacking towards the whitewash but the winger knocked on under pressure from two Ireland defenders.
Midway through the second period France put the game to bed as Poitrenaud crossed for their third try.
The forwards set the platform from which the ball was spun wide to Bastereaud who shrugged off the challenge of O'Driscoll and found the full-back who dived in at the corner. Parra's touchline conversion stretched the lead to 24-3.
If that didn't show off Parra's kicking ability enough the scrum-half then nonchalantly stroked over a drop-goal two minutes later to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Ireland suddenly woke up and got themselves into double figures with fifteen minutes remaining. Ferris found space down the left hand side and passed inside to O'Driscoll who shifted the ball inside once more for Wallace to touch down.
O'Gara added the extras but there was a long way to go for Ireland as they trailed 27-10.
The comeback was put on hold four minutes later as Parra kicked his fourth penalty to make the lead 20 points with ten minutes left on the clock, before substitute Frederic Michalak wrapped up the scoring with a late drop-goal.
Ireland pushed for a second try but came up against a determined blue wall who saw out the final minutes to keep up their Grand Slam hopes against the side deemed to be their closest rivals, although Wales and England may have something to say about that.
Ireland will look to bounce back when they visit Twickenham in a fortnight's time whilst France will look to keep up their Grand Slam hopes when they face Wales in Cardiff.