Player ratings: Guilhem Guirado gives his all
Here are our France player ratings following their 15-13 defeat to Ireland in Paris.
15 Geoffrey Palis – A relatively quiet outing for Castres man Palis as he didn't test Ireland's defence and made a couple of mistakes in losing possession. For a debut performance at home we shouldn't be overly critical but he won't be happy with this showing. 5/10
14 Teddy Thomas – Made the always frustrating decision to be forced into touch but more than made up for that with a slick score that saw him slice through the Irish defence coming off the right wing. Thomas made a team high 76 metres from his 10 carries in a good performance. 8/10
13 Rémi Lamerat – A solid outing from the Clermont centre as we felt the midfields cancelled each other out. However, an unnecessary penalty at the breakdown sees him marked down. 6/10
12 Henry Chavancy – As mentioned, a solid shift from the midfields and Chavancy made 11 tackles but he struggled to impress with ball in hand. 6/10
11 Virimi Vakatawa – Fairly quiet from the big wing despite his best efforts to get his hands on possession. Made good metres when he did and will hope to see more of the ball next week. This was not a day for wingers. 6/10
10 Matthieu Jalibert – Injured too early to give him a mark.
9 Maxime Machenaud – He's been excellent off the tee for his club of late and continued that form in Paris, slotting six points. Machenaud also directed operations well from the base while putting in eight tackles. 7/10
8 Kevin Gourdon – 21 tackles and 10 carries from the France number eight as he certainly got through some work. 7/10
7 Yacouba Camara – We didn't get to see Camara's strong carries on Saturday as he struggled to get ball in hand in a quiet day at the office. Defended well though with 14 tackles to his name. 6/10
6 Wenceslas Lauret – On the other flank Lauret also put in a shift defensively with 16 hits but, like many of his team-mates, making inroads into the Irish defence proved a difficult task. 6/10
5 Sébastien Vahaamahina – A couple of unforgivable penalties see the lock marked down but 19 tackles save him from being his side's lowest rated player outright. 5/10
4 Arthur Iturria – Like many of his pack he didn't get much change with ball in hand and finished defensively with 13 tackles to his name. Still a youngster, he will learn from this tough outing. 6/10
3 Rabah Slimani – Strong at the set-piece and also busy around the field with 13 tackles, with the front-row in general leading the way for France. 7/10
2 Guilhem Guirado (c) – Hats off to Guirado for this showing. To complete 28 tackles takes some going and makes it that much more painful having to sit and watch from the bench as that match-winning drop-goal went over. 8/10
1 Jefferson Poirot – Also put himself about the field with 16 tackles to his name in his 55 minutes on the field. Did enough to keep his place for next week. 7/10
Replacements:
16 Adrien Pelissié – Not on long enough.
17 Dany Priso – Struggled to replicate his La Rochelle form on proceedings. 5/10
18 Cedate Gomes Sa – Made 10 tackles in his 25 minutes on the field and certainly made an impact in terms of workrate. 6/10
19 Paul Gabrillagues – Got about in the 20 minutes he was on with nine tackles. 6/10
20 Marco Tauleigne – Not on long enough.
21 Antoine Dupont – Not on long enough.
22 Anthony Belleau – Came on early for the injured Jalibert and gave a good account of himself. However, that missed penalty will hurt. 6/10
23 Benjamin Fall – Did not come on.