Ireland v France: Five takeaways as ‘stupidity’ cracks open ‘ageing’ Irish while Le Bomb Squad goes bang
Our five takeaways from Frnace's Six Nations victory over Ireland in Dublin.
Following France’s 42-27 victory over Ireland in Dublin, here’s our five takeaways from the Six Nations encounter.
The top line
France produced their performance of the season to thrash a lacklustre and underpowered Ireland in a thrilling encounter in Dublin.
Whilst two-try hero Louis Bielle-Biarrey, along with the French bench impact, will grab the headlines, it was the brilliance of the visitors’ defence, especially in the opening 20 minutes, that was the foundation of this sensational win.
Tries came from the brilliant Louis Bielle-Biarrey (2), Paul Boudehent, makeshift centre Oscar Jegou and Damian Penaud as France seized moments of magic from both of their scrum-halves, Antoine Dupont and Maxime Lucu, to finally halt the Irish run for a Six Nations Grand Slam.
However, the game wasn’t without cost for Les Bleus; superstar Dupont left the pitch midway through the first half as Tadhg Beirne landed on his knee – a cheap shot that might have seen red in another fixture. With Joe McCarthy and Calvin Nash both seeing yellow, Irish indiscipline under pressure cost them dearly, with the McCarthy madness costing Ireland a try a moment later through Bielle-Biarrey and Nash’s absence leaving Ireland short of numbers on their own goal line, leaving a hole for the outstanding La Rochelle flank Boudehent to crash over.
It was a result that will rock Irish rugby to the core; whilst even the most ardent fan in green was calling this match a close affair, the total lack of a pacey cutting edge or their ability to open the French defensive line-up with direct power will be of huge concern to the Irish management and it was only a couple of gimme tries in the last two minutes that made this scoreline look anything like respectable for the current Six Nations champions.
Le Bomb Squad
Bang! It was a blue explosion of power and athleticism that entered the pitch around the 50-minute mark and what an impact they had.
However, just before the bomb bay doors were opened, we saw Pierre-Louis Barassi leave with a head injury and with Maxime Lucu already on for Dupont, France’s gamble with the 7-1 split looked as if it might come back to haunt them.
Enter the outstanding Oscar Jegou. Employed as an outside centre, the young La Rochelle flank, a man whose career is already littered with controversy, came on and delivered an absolutely magnificent response to the situation he found himself in. Some of his positional work might have had the backline coaches screaming with frustration, but the leggy back-rower made up for his lack of experience at centre with a performance of real passion and brio. His work in defence featured some enormous hits and his impressive shift was rounded off with a lovely stretch for the white line to grab his first test try.
With Emmanuel Meafou simply bullying the Irish defence, Cyril Baille prancing around the park like a spring lamb, and Julien Marchand reminding all that both Toulouse and France have two world-class hookers, the 7-1 split was a gamble that could have seen France implode, but it was the explosion into the Irish backline with ball in hand that won the match for Les Bleus.
France player ratings: Le Bomb Squad decimates Ireland’s Grand Slam hopes in stunning victory
A tale of two nines
For 28 minutes Antione Dupont treated us to a masterclass from the base. It wasn’t the big things, it was the precision of the small things that impressed. His skinning of Peter O’Mahony, a warrior in his last Test, around the ruck to then throw out a 15m precision two-man miss pass on the short side was execution out of the highest drawer.
Couple that with his exit work, his ability to dance around rucks and offer himself to attack either side almost mesmerised the Irish back-row and pillar defence at times, and it looked like we were going to see yet another masterclass from the maestro under Beirne’s clumsy and unfortunate ruck challenge which twisted the Toulouse man’s knee.
When Dupont left the pitch, both Ireland and the Aviva breathed a mutual sigh of relief, but they’d not reckoned upon the superb Bordeaux half-back, Lucu, who trotted on and continued where his partner had left off.
Lucu was magnificent; there’s little doubt that France’s attack more conventionally and focus on one-side moves when he’s driving them but the speed and accuracy of his ruck passing was every bit as good as the man he replaced, and, dare we say it, his exit work in defence from the base was sensational, on three occasions getting 50m touch marks from clearances in his own 22.
He added some real abrasion, but what he did crucially was be the best version of Lucu rather than an imitation of Dupont. He played his own game- pacy, abrasive and with a tad more width, but it was a mightily effective performance in a situation where he came onto the pitch on a hiding to nothing.
Exit and defence key
Mentioning the exits of both French nines is an apt starting point to look at the differences between the two teams. For the first 20 minutes of the match, Ireland threw the kitchen sink at France and it looked for all money that they’d fold under the immense pressure of the hosts with ball in hand.
After 12 minutes, Les Bleus had made 48 tackles, but a mark of their accuracy was that they missed none in that period. The work rate of Gregory Alldritt, Boudehent and the superb Francois Cros in that period was breathtaking as time and time again not only did they make their hits, but they crushed the carriers on the gain-line with some monster impacts.
Alldritt was subbed after a brilliant 48 minutes, but both flanks went the distance, crucial in the pressure they exerted on the Irish midfield until Cros saw a yellow card with six minutes to go after an immense shift that saw him make 27 tackles and two turnovers.
It was suffocating stuff, and as a result, we saw Sam Prendergast shirk further and further backfield as he sought depth to shield him from the blue onslaught. Prendergast really struggled to unlock that rush into his face, looking slow in footwork and thought as the French back-row just bullied him backwards.
During that early onslaught, exit was the superpower of France; they managed big kicks, clever runs, important turnovers, managing the scenarios without over emotional distraction and a real sense of purpose.
Above all, in every situation, they had four or five pressure release options, allowing them to take the heat off themselves through gaining metre momentum, a key quality of elite teams. In contrast, Ireland looked hurried; they lacked the power of kick that France possessed and had nowhere near the options available to them to repel attacking situations, a key point of difference in the early stages of the match where margins were fine.
So long, farewell
The result seemed cruel to three Irish stalwarts – O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Cian Healy – as they bowed out in the green of Ireland for the last time at the Aviva, all cap centurions, all magnificent servants to clubs and country, and, above all to the British and Irish Lions.
But their farewell demonstrated to the viewer that this wonderful Irish side, a team that’s been around the top of the rankings for some six years despite their World Cup failures, is ageing. O’Mahony was schooled by both Dupont and the French back-row, as age finally appeared to have caught up with his legs, and his performance was a metaphor for that of Ireland themselves.
Ireland will struggle to replace players of that quality and we saw in this match that new players coming on stream are not yet fully the completed article. McCarthy’s stupidity was the first crack that France prised open; Jamie Osbourne struggled to turn and scramble when in direct competition with Bielle-Biarrey and none of the Irish replacements got near to delivering the impact of their opposite numbers.
Ireland are now officially in a rebuilding phase; they still need to find the quality at ten to replace the great Johnny Sexton and with three other world-class players calling it quits in this match, there’s another three gaping holes to fill as they recycle their team in preparation for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.