Fighting for the inches in Dublin
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France managed to keep their Grand Slam hopes alive on Sunday after winning a hotly-contested clash with Ireland 25-22 at Aviva Stadium.
Ireland gave a massively improved performance than the one that saw Italy come so close to causing the upset in the championship's history.
But their efforts were not enough to overcome a les Bleus outfit who will be relieved to escape Dublin with two points that puts them joint-top.
The classy visitors had gone in 15-12 down at the interval after Leinster winger Fergus McFadden and Munster scrum-half Tomas O'Leary had crossed the whitewash, with France maestro Morgan Parra on target with four penalty goals.
However, a well-taken Maxime Médard try on 55 minutes was the catalyst of a French revival in the second-half as their bench proved too strong.
Ireland supporters will be cursing their luck though in the aftermath of this one as they blew an opportunity to score what would've been a match-winning try in the 79th minute, but replacement hooker Sean Cronin knocked-on at the vital time.
The underdog hosts in fact looked superior in flashes, but were undone by their ill-discipline as six penalties saw Marc Lievremont's charges edge the battle on a brisk afternoon.
Ireland began at great pace and were rewarded with a fifth-minute try when McFadden muscled his way over from close-range with his leg drive stunning France's ruck guards.
However, the assured boot of Parra replied quickly for the visitors and he went on to land three further before the interval while O'Leary answered some of his critics with another strong finish fifteen in from the left touchline. An out-of-sorts Sexton missed the extras.
Following the break another Parra penalty drew the French level before the stadium fell silent on the hour when Aurelien Rougerie shrugged off Gordon D'Arcy to send Medard in.
A sixth French penalty - this time from replacement number nine Dimitri Yachvili - piled on the misery and although returning number eight Jamie Heaslip dived over in the corner to make it a three-point game, Cronin spilt the chance of a winning try at the death.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: McFadden, O'Leary, Heaslip
Con: Sexton, O'Gara
Pen: Sexton
For France:
Try: Medard
Con: Yachvili
Pen: Parra 5, Yachvili
Ireland: 15 Luke Fitzgerald, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Paddy Wallace.
France: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Maxime Médard, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Julien Pierre, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Jerome Thion, 19 Sébastien Chabal, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Yannick Jauzion, 22 Vincent Clerc.
Referee: Dave Pearson
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
Comments
adamk says...
@crunchfit Agreed. And I wasn't saying anyone was gloating, more of a statement from myself i.e; I wouldn't gloat about the preformance.
Posted 12:01 16th February 2011
crunchfit says...
adamk
I don't see anyone gloating about almost winning.
And, it was not like Ireland played well either. It's more like a poor side almost winning against a poor side. Anyway, I think Ireland stopped France playing well. They use a different defense system to that of Scotland who they looked so good against. France still tried the same style of play, but for the most part, it wasn't allowed to work.
Posted 22:51 15th February 2011
adamk says...
Hahaha,
I love the arguments below.
Anyhoo, the match was entertaining, if a tad stressfull. I think at times the Irish dominated the breakdown (when not coughing up turn overs). Every time the ball went to ground we made 5 meters. The Heaslip try wasn't pretty, but it was won via the breakdown.
Very much like the Leinster vs Aironi game last week - the younger players tried to play expansive and ended up turning the ball over. It wasn't until they started playing the ball to ground and into the breakdown that they started making serious ground to get into the redzone and score tries.
I thought the French had a pretty poor match, so 'almost winning' against a poor side isn't really anything to gloat about. Infact, I wouldn't have given the man of the match award to any french player, and I'm sure they'll agree. They'd be kicking themselves this week like the Irish were after Italy.
Pity though, because winning against France would've made the rest of the Championship very interesting. I could easily see no Grand Slam winner this year, and England maybe winning on points difference....
Posted 12:26 15th February 2011
thatllbeme says...
im the real thatllbeme im a pathethic SH fan who likes to troll Nh pages as i have no life and no friends wow im so cool and funny; its true i have one brain cell and all it thinks of is naked men
Posted 11:26 15th February 2011
thatllbeme says...
sorry guys im a complete loser please ignore my comments; all i am is a troll
Posted 09:26 15th February 2011
papachinzo says...
Not making excuses, but you must remember that Ireland were missing Flannery, Bowe, Kearney, and Ferris [thats four Lions].. with Best(awful), Earls(a plank), Fitzgerald (out of position) and an aging Wallace drafted in their place. against a very much full strength, French outfit.
Not only that, but O'Leary started in a Leinster back line, they need fast ball, which O'Leary is incapable of delivering, to function. this is why O'Gara looks so effective when he come's on. Kidney wants Ireland to play like Munster did.
If Ireland had cut out the mistakes, they would have won, no problem!
Very disappointing from an Irish prospective.......
Kidney must either change his ideas, or resign as this stage.
I think Connor O'Shea should take his place.
Also to the people who keep referring to Ireland as being "an old team". France Italy Wales Scotland and England all have more old players that we do... O'Connell(31) Darcy(30) O'Driscoll(32) and O'Callaghan(32) Ross(31) are the only ''''old''' (30 years or more) players in our full strength starting XV. Thats Ireland 5+, France have 8+ England 7+ Wales 9+ Scotland 9+ and Italy 6+. all the teams are as aging as each other..........
England I think will win it now anyways.
Posted 20:04 14th February 2011
crunchfit says...
I've just finished watching the replay of the match and the cameras don't show any replay of what happened between French number 6 on Cian Healy. I couldn't see exactly what happened as I was too far away, but number 6 was jogging across the field and made some sort of contact to Healy's head while he was lying on the ground (he grabbed his head, got up and looked pretty annoyed with number 6), on his own, after a ruck. The ball had been moved to the far side of the pitch when this happened. 17th minute of the match.
Posted 18:58 14th February 2011
BenoitXV says...
Well, as usual, we French are complaining that our team is not up to scratch. But we won and in Ireland too, and very honestly that's a pretty good performance. Our defence is rather weak and that will no doubt be a problem at Twickers.
Ireland were not unlucky to lose ... their last try was marred by an obvious knock-on from O'Gara (who never got his foot to the ball) and if we'd had more success from our backs, the margin would have been greater.
Looks like we're gonna have a great game in two weeks' time! Let's hope we can beat the Poms, but it's gonna be tough seeing how well they played on Saturday..
Posted 16:46 14th February 2011
blametheref says...
When England come to Dublin no matter what the standings are they are going to be meeting probably the best ever Irish back row combination (that have never played as a unit before) with a fully fit Heaslip, O' Brien and Ferris; this in contrast to a powerful England front 5 and England's decent backrow will be worth the entrance money alone. Other match ups that will make it one of THE matches of the 6 nations is; Flood V Sexton and Ashton V Bowe (if fit) on the try count.
Posted 16:25 14th February 2011
DaveJ says...
I like the look of that team spike19, however I reckon Cullen should start ahead of O Callaghan
Posted 14:46 14th February 2011
Carpelone says...
I have just seen a 60 minutes summary of the games.
Ireland just have to blame themselves for too many infringements at breakdown.
With the same refereeing of yesterday, they could have well lost to Italy too.
I am glad that such an obstructionist attitude is punished at least.
On the positive, I think Ireland is one of the top team to play in opponents' 22. I think that the ratio between tries and opportunities is quite high.
Disappointing game from the French, I guess that they are not happy to concede three tries like the ones we saw yesterday. Their defense is not at Grand Slam level.
Posted 14:33 14th February 2011
spike19 says...
Rugby works in cycles and whether we like it or not Ireland are in a low cycle as are Wales. England have emerged from there 7 year downward spiral (07wc aside) as a well tuned oufit they look very sharp in key positions. The insurge of talent and youth i.e: youngs/foden/hartley/wood/ashton/cole/lawes has encouraged the older guard to lift there game.
We need some changes to counter our spiral, O'Leary needs game time away from test rugby his passing, kicking and decision making are not good enough. D'arcy is not performing, 12 is such an important position and if you have an inform 12 its takes the pressure of 10.
Hopeully Ferris and Bowe will be back for Scotland, I still think we can turn it around and get the TC.
My team for Scotland:
fitzgerald, bowe, o'driscoll, mcfadden, earls, sexton, reddan, heaslip, o'brien, ferris, o'connell, o'callaghan, ross, cronin, healy.
subs:court, best, cullen, wallace, boss, o'gara, trimble
Posted 13:01 14th February 2011
kingstonian says...
@Thatllbme
who are you and what is your problem go away unless you have something productive and interesting to say. Nobody is interested in your hate filled diatibes.The questions really lies in why do you feel so inadequate?
Posted 12:02 14th February 2011
ogonda says...
Winning in Dublin is not an easy task. Whilst the French play was not outstanding for the entire 80 minutes, the confidence levels have gone a notch higher. The defense will improve and the midfield combination will be sorted out. England game will be a cracker.
Posted 08:57 14th February 2011
Barnhall_rugby says...
Eltonioh,
Punctuation is your friend!
JeanLucJoinel
The Italian game is the extent of England¿s ¿thrashing¿ I can assure you. The French will beat England at Twick and Ireland will put an end to any Triple Crown glory England will be chasing.
Ireland¿s indiscipline and poor ball cough ups have let them down yet again. That said, their attacking play passing is not only good to watch, it¿s good rugby. As the Scots and the Welsh beckon, the Irish will improve and fine tune their play and hopefully put the school boy errors to bed just in time for the England game.
The new younger players coming through are integrating well.
Declan Kidney is morphing into Eddie O¿ Sullivan, that is of major concern. Not picking in-form players does nothing to foster competition within any squad and should be discouraged everywhere! UTTER Madness!!!
Leo Cullen coming on with a minute of play was an insult to the man.
The WOW of the w/e has to be Ashton ¿ WOW!!! Both Hemispheres take note!
Posted 03:01 14th February 2011
dropgoal says...
Ireland found that sparkle at last and almost pulled off the big upset. Hopefuly this
was our break-out game and from here we will continue to improve. Of course
there is always going to be the hoard of the "if onlyies" if we dropped this guy and
brought on the other guy. If we fired the coach, if we put all our seniors out to pasture. If we had a different ref. I think we played as good as any combination of
talent we have available at the moment. Well done lads, take it up a gear next
outing and you're in business.
Posted 02:41 14th February 2011
scrumdog says...
Good comment there....Schimdt should be next inline but only when Gaffers retires. Great but luckless Irish performance! TGreat game from Donners once again. This team definitely will come right in time for the RWC...no doubt about that, good progress lads!! Just bad luck in the end today....could happen to a BIshop! Ready-up for the next one,
Posted 01:47 14th February 2011
trappa says...
I didnt see the game but no team deserves to loose scoring 3 tries to 1. Surely some infringements just arent worth points. Other options should be made available, particularly the use of the yellow card which then encourages attacking play and dedicated defence. Unfortunately, Nth refs see the 1st and only option to stick their arm straight in the air, and nth spectators to applaud. Bring on the super 15...
Posted 00:28 14th February 2011
Madirishman says...
Each & every Irish player should be given a ball and told not to put in down untill next week. Carry it everywhere with them, do not put in down. Then & maybe then they will learn to hold onto it. Oh, and give Kidney a book on Player Management & using his bench better. We should have won - we beat ourselves
Posted 23:53 13th February 2011
Bones7 says...
@ neotolosan, I thought Huget was quite good, but I would definitely pick Jauzion over Traille, who looks slower than ever. It's a shame Barcella has been injured, that guy can really scrummage! I know Domingo has won a lot of fans over the past two weeks but Barcella I think is a cut above. I once saw him outscrummage Nicolas Mas so badly he was taken off around 50 minutes into a game! Chabal was poor I thought, I am a fan of his but I think there are better back row players available, but who would you pick?
Posted 22:47 13th February 2011