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France 30 Ireland 24
France laid waste to the Irish breakdown to stifle the life out of the visiting attack as they held on for a thrilling six-point victory at the Stade de France.
Ireland were knocked back in the collision on plenty of ocassions, but still had enough with ball in hand to make gain line yards only for breakdown accuracy to desert them.
The breakdown was a free-for-all all evening but the French definitely adapted better, constantly committing bodies to disrupt as the lightning ruck speed from last week’s Wales win was nowhere to be found.
Mack Hansen, Josh van der Flier and Jamison Gibson-Park all crossed for Ireland to keep things close only for the boot of Melvyn Jaminet to keep France out of touch at the death.
France blew Ireland away from the start as fast ruck speed off a powerul Antonio carry allowed Ntamack to break down the right. He overthrew his attempted offload to Jaminet on his inside but there was Dupont on the support line to gather and dart over the line with less than two minutes on the clock.
It didn’t take France long to add to their lead as Jaminet tacked on an extra penalty. It was looking ominous for Ireland who had failed to click into gear in attack up to this point, but a moment of brilliance from Mack Hansen dragged them back into it off the restart.
Penaud and Jaminet looked at each other as the ball came down inside the 22 and with neither man going up to claim, there was the Connacht wing to swoop on the ball in the air and burst off into the corner. Carbery added a brilliant wide conversion to narrow the gap to three.
That was as good as things got for Ireland in the first half as Jaminet added three more penalties. France continued to cause havoc on the floor while at the set-piece Antonio had a clear edge over Porter at scrum time.
There were some good defensive interventions most notably from skipper James Ryan as he threw himself into ball carriers to good effect.
Ireland needed to strike first in the second half but a sloppy offside penalty from Andrew Conway allowed Jaminet to stretch the lead out to 22-7.
Back came Ireland though almost immediately as Porter won a breakdown turnover off the restart, allowing Carbery to kick into the corner. After being dominated up front all afternoon, the Irish pack pulled off a perfect rolling maul to send van der Flier over in the corner. Carbery once again converted from the touchline.
Momentum had clearly shifted as Keenan broke from deep straight off the next restart. Another French breakdown penalty allowed Carbery to go to the corner once more but the lineout ball was scrappy as Ryan took two attempts to gather. Nothing looked to be on as Alldritt amongst others slowed the ball down, but Gibson-Park spotted a gap as the French failed to post a pillar defender. Willemse was left for dead by a left foot step as the scrumhalf dove his way under the posts. Ten minutes into the second half and the gap was down to just one.
France were always going to respond and were quick to go to width. Both Villiere and Penaud broke down the right flank before van der Flier scrambled well to knock the former into touch inside the 22.
Not that the danger had been averted. Ireland secured the lineout safely but failed to look after the ball as it squirted out down the narrow side. When Baille came on a hard angle metres from the line, he had too much momentum to score through the attempted tackles of O’Mahony, Beirne and Porter.
France continued to wreak havoc at the breakdown. Ireland were making yards on first phase but seemed like every time the gain line was broken, there was a French jackal to turn the ball over.
Tahdg Beirne pulled a ridiculous left-footed 50:22 out of the locker to offer a rare attacking platform, but Ireland couldn’t cash in as the resulting lineout went awry.
Making metres was never an issue so long as Ireland looked after the ball on the floor. When they did and went through the phases, ground was made up towards the 22 before France dove in off their feet. Carbery reduced the deficit to three with seven minutes left on the clock. In hindsight maybe the corner was the better call seeing as that was Ireland’s last attack of note.
France’s broken field skills as the game became scrappy at the death ultimately saw them over the line. Jaminet thought he had scored after a Fickou chip and chase scattered the Irish defensive line, but somehow Sheehan did enough to convince the officials that he held the fullback up. It probably was a try but no camera angle could be found that showed a grounding.
Back we went for an advantage under the posts which Jaminet slotted. 90 seconds remainaing then with France up by six.
Ireland had one last passage of possession after a Henderson turnover but a looping, most likely forward pass from Carty was spilled forward. France kicked long and backed their defence, but didn’t need to as Keenan failed to regather an up and under.