A spicy one: Battle won by France
Ireland were forced to hand over their 2009 Grand Slam bragging rights on Saturday as a top-class French outfit proved a point in Paris, winning 33-10.
The purists will be delighted to hear that the Stade de France was blessed to watch Les Bleus in full swing and it was apparent that the champions had no answer to what was thrown at them.
They lost the battle up front and also out wide in a physical contest that in patches slipped over what is right and wrong on a rugby field.
I am alluding to the possible, make that probable citing for hooker Jerry Flannery, whose blatant first-half trip on Alexis Palisson forced the young winger off the field and could have similar repercussions for the Munster front-rower.
And so to the free-flowing French. Francois Trinh-Duc and Morgan Parra were the men who ran the show, the latter kicking eighteen points as Ireland crashed to their first defeat since 2008.
William Servat scored the game's first try on 27 minutes while Ireland were down to fourteen men through the sin-binning of prop Cian Healy for obstruction and centre Yannick Jauzion added a second before half-time.
Ireland, who like their hosts with Palisson, lost a player to injury in the shape of British & Irish Lions full-back Rob Kearney, became increasingly ragged and conceded a third try to Clement Poitrenaud before David Wallace grabbed a consolation effort on 65 minutes.
Victory will taste all the sweeter for France knowing that Ireland arrived genuinely believing they could end their decade-long wait for a success at Stade de France.
Instead, the holders failed the first significant examination of their title defence and missed the chance to head to Twickenham with their tails up.
Ireland in the end trudged off shell-shocked, yet a promising opening suggested they might finally be ready to improve their record of just one win in Paris in 28 years.
Early surges from returning flanker Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip swept them five metres short of the line. France's defence reacted sharply, however, with Jauzion bottling up O'Driscoll before the attack became lateral and fizzled out.
A busy Gordon D'Arcy was then denied by the bounce of the ball after he charged into space and chipped ahead with winger Vincent Clerc coming to the rescue of the side in blue.
Then came Flannery's indiscretion which he was lucky to stay on the field for as frustration mounted and tempers began to fray in the contest. Instead it was Cian Healy who went to the sin-bin for holding back the supporting Trinh-Duc when France were on an attack.
Parra landed the penalty before the hosts cranked up the volume with four successive five-metre scrums leading to hooker Servat going over for a converted try. Ronan O'Gara reduced the deficit to 10-3 - until France produced their second try the on the half-hour mark.
The imposing Mathieu Bastareaud was then at his best as he bulldozed his way through midfield before being stopped ten metres short, but the ball found its way to Jauzion who slipped over untroubled. Parra's conversion compounded Ireland's problems to go with the departure of Kearney.
Ireland were desperate to get themselves on the try-scoring board but instead found themselves defending, which ultimately led to Bastareaud using his strength to set up France's third try. He slipped the scoring pass to Poitrenaud with Parra converting before the number nine added a drop-goal.
The wounded holders replied with a try of their own through flanker Wallace but there was no fightback as substitute Frederic Michalak landed a drop goal in what proved to be the salt in the wound for the Irish.
Man-of-the-match: This one goes to former captain Lionel Nallet. The Racing-Metro lock was a colossus in Paris as he carried, won lineouts and was also solid in the scrum.
Moment-of-the-match: Winning in France after surrendering an early lead is rarely easy. You cannot frustrate a side if they are winning so William Servat going over on 26 minutes had a massive impact on how this one panned out.
Villain-of-the-match: No debate with this unwanted award as Jerry Flannery seriously lost his cool in the first-half. A horrible trip on Alexis Palisson summed up Ireland's frustration.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Servat, Jauzion, Poitreneaud
Con: Parra 3
Pen: Parra 2
Drop: Parra, Michalak
For Ireland:
Tries: D Wallace
Con: O'Gara
Pen: O'Gara
France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Frederic Michalak, 21 David Marty, 22 Julien Malzieu.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (capt), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris , 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Leo Cullen, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Sean O'Brien, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Paddy Wallace
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match officials: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (France)
By Adam Kyriacou
Comments
coolhandsmike says...
Mortished...I think you've just redefined narrow minded ignorance which is really quite impressive considering (assuming you're French) your team played really well and yet you'd rather focus on all the apparent negatives and injustices against French rugby.
France made a very good Irish team look 3rd rate at best and yet you all you can talk about is stolen finals and how astonished you are about David Attoub? You preach about learning to play positive rugby but everything you say is negative. Every club/team/national side has to deal with losing and politics and the perception of cheating. France and french teams get no more and no less than anyone else.
France executed brilliantly, Ireland couldn't handle it and I doubt the French players would want you representing them like this. Your team won with style - you should learn how to accept victory graciously.
Posted 11:24 15th February 2010
thudmonsta says...
Flannery should be cited and suspende for the rest of the season tht was a deliberate trip and could have seriously injury. Also Irelands only try resulted from blatently forward pass, Wayne Barnes was directly there and should have called it, it is extremely frusterating watching teams score tries as a result of unnoticed forward pass, in this games case it wasnt a big deal but in a closer match it would be. Touchys need to pay more attentioln and make these calls
Posted 01:22 15th February 2010
Agur_Lagunak says...
Bad news Blue Lion....Here is another Frog rushing to his laptop to second what my compatriots have already said about the perceived bias of the IRB against the French. Time will tell if it is only a perception or a sad reality.
Having said that, I would like to inject a note of caution: our line-out was not very solid and the first 20 mns were indecisive. The French team has imploded in similar situations before and I hope that is a real renaissance of Les Bleus, not a one off.
Allez les Bleus!
Posted 19:03 14th February 2010
Roger999 says...
French Rugby is sick and tired of decades of collusion between referees, judges and and the anglo-celts. For how many games, championships (and even WC : 1995 thanks very much Derek Bevan) will we have to endure this ?
Posted 16:13 14th February 2010
homergriffin says...
KiwiRooster - The gouging cases you are referring to were based on the severity incidents themselves using the evidence received. The players prior conduct is taken into consideration but it is not the reason for the differing ban lengths. Here are the rules relating to Flannery's actions and the RFU's possible interpretation of them:
Source: http://www.rosslynpark.co.uk/wp-content/docs/2008/07/disciplineregulations20062007.pdf
10(4)(c) Kicking an opponent
LE ¿ 12 weeks;
MR ¿ 36 weeks;
TE - 12 months
10(4)(d) Tripping an opponent with the foot/leg
LE - 1 week;
MR - 4 weeks;
TE - 6 weeks
Depends on what is viewed really.
To 'Mortished' to describe the ban received by Attoub as an "astonishing 70 weeks attoub got for nothing" is beyond reason. If you can justify Attoub's actions and condemn the actions of Flannery goes to show you have very little sense. Both actions were deplorable and to state Attoub's actions were nothing is biased to the utmost extreme.
Posted 12:32 14th February 2010
Roger999 says...
What Attoub and Julien Dupuy did was no more carrer-theatening for the opposite player (Ferris) than Flannery's horrific and savage attack, that could have broken Palisson's leg. It was cynical. Let's hope he gets at least the same sanction as Dupuy. Otherwise french clubs should withdraw from H-Cup.
Posted 10:53 14th February 2010
Sinolated says...
...And THAT is how it's done -:)
The Irish were totally outplayed (except the first few line-outs) and France never looked back. What a defensive display though! Brilliant!
Posted 19:26 13th February 2010
mortished says...
flannery ... oh my god ... and we are the bad naughty violent one ? pffffffff ... it's time to stop the rubbish in world rugby now really ... really interesting to see what will be the duration of his ban ... and if it can compare with the completely astonishing 70 weeks attoub got for nothing ... well done france this was a good showing to those green boys who talk too much ... learn to play positive rugby and stop you're celt ref from killing this game and then maybe we will respect you again, but for now everything was said in honnest and clean french manner in the stade de france, no backdoor things just pure art and strenght ... that what rugby is all about in France and that's why we're fed up with all that politics, cheating etc ... stop all that especially in the Hcup ... we'll end up winning it anyway no matter what is the handicap ... we all remember that stolen final in 2008 and so many "memorable" stolen games in the last few years STOP !!!! or let just play the top14, it's far better than the Hcup anyway
Posted 19:20 13th February 2010