13/02/2010
Gay Paris, may be the eternal city of love, and this may be Valentines eve but no love was lost when Ireland and France went head to head in the French capital. The Baltic conditions paved way for the frosty reception Ireland received especially from French scrumhalf Parra who it is alleged accused the Irish of cheating, adding an extra edge to this occasion... as if it was needed.
In the opening minutes, France started with intent, working up field, but the Irish defence managed to repel the first wave of attacks. It was a nervous opening 5 minutes by Ireland, as France elected to play an offloading game meanwhile O’Gara was controlling the opening exchanges for Ireland, constantly pinning the homeside into their own 22 with that trusty right boot.
Ireland had their first scoring opportunity with 8 minutes on the clock when, thanks to a great break by Kearney and continued by Heaslip, Ireland worked to within a metre of the French line. After a couple of phases that attack fizzled out as the French defence held good. Leo Cullen was continuing where he left off last week and managed to steal a French lineout in the opening few minutes.
The Irish lineout was dominating the set piece, with O’Connell gate crashing Cullens party and stealing his fair share of lineouts.
On 16 minutes D’Arcy made a magical break splitting the French dogleg defence and chipping the final defender, however the bounce went away from D’Arcy and the ball was touched down in goal by France.
The homeside responded immediately with a fine break from Harinordoqui, which resulted in Irish prop Cian Healy infringing and picking up a yellow card for his troubles. From the resulting penalty, France opened their scoring account thanks to Morgan Parra. 3-0
Despite being a man down, Ireland were enjoying a decent spell of possession and territory thanks to a good kick and chase by Tommy Bowe, however that good work was undone by Irish hooker Jerry Flannery who tripped Pallison and what would have been an Irish penalty was reversed. As a result of that, France worked up field thanks to some excellent mauling and they found themselves 5 metres from the Irish try line with an attacking scrum. After four resets, the Irish were under big pressure, ironically Ireland got a good scrum and Harinordoqui picked from the base and drove to the line. His initial advance was kept out however when French hooker Servat took possession at full tilt 2m from the line, the covering tackles of O’Leary and Earls was never going to be enough to keep him out. With 26 minutes gone, France had taken a 10-0 lead with Parra securing the conversion.
Two minutes later, Paul O’Connell was deemed to have been fouled and O’Gara opened Ireland’s scoring account with a well taken penalty, the scores now read 10-3.
On 30 minutes a pulsing run by Basteraud split the Irish defence and France were once again attacking one metre from the Irish line. Quick recycled ball and a skip pass from Trinh-Duc was finished by Jauzion to extend the French lead. Parra made no mistake with the conversion and the homeside stretched into a 17-3 lead.
Rob Kearney was replaced on 34 minutes by Paddy Wallace, the Louth man unable to continue. This forced Ireland to re-jig their backline with Earls reverting to fullback, D’Arcy moving to the wing and Wallace and O’Driscoll forming the new centre partnership.
With 39 minutes on the clock, Paddy Wallace spotted space behind the French defence, and put in a deft kick. The chase by Bowe was fantastic and Poitrenaud was unable to secure the ball without infringing. From that resulting phase of play Ireland were presented with a 5m attacking lineout which O’Connell secured. The maul was messy but it got to the line but not across. First O’Gara probed, then Bowe and with Wayne Barnes playing advantage, O’Leary took the quick tap penalty to keep the attack alive. One sensed that Ireland were on the verge, but the French held firm and uncharacteristically Paul O’Connell spilled the ball and the whistle blew concluding the first half.
Declan Kidney had a bit of talking to do at the interval as his side trailed by 14 points, but this side aren’t short on belief and their strong finish to the half will have boosted their confidence as they lined out for the second half.
2nd Half
France started the second half with gusto, a step by Trihn-Duc foxed his opposite number and O’Gara was left watching as Trihn-Duc broke up field. Ireland managed to clear this attack but they were being pressured, forced to play from deep inside their 22. The little passes which would normally have stuck were failing. Irish hearts were once again in their mouths when Clerc hacked the ball up-field and set off in pursuit, but on this occasion the ball was knocked on over the Irish line by a French hand and Ireland got out of jail free.
On 48 minutes, after O’Driscoll shot out of the defensive line, Trinh-duc chipped through and replacement Malzieu collected but Earls bundled him into touch right on the line.
John Hayes was replaced by Tom Court, the Bruff man unable to continue following a blow to the head which he sustained in the previous passage of play.
O’Driscoll came close to an intercept on 50 minutes, but his leaving the defensive line left a gaping hole which Jauzion was almost able to exploit, however on this occasion an excellent tackle by D’Arcy was enough to curb that particular attack.
The French were playing with confidence and quietly turning up the heat with Ireland being forced to endure a fierce amount of pressure. That pressure eventually told on 60 minutes when, Basteraud running the angle, executed a sublime offload from the tackle to send Poitrenaud over the line. The conversion from far out on the left was good and Ireland were staring down the barrel of a gun trailing by 24-3.
Morgan Parra pulled the trigger on 61 minutes when with consummate ease he popped over a sublime drop goal as the homeside began to enjoy their days efforts. 27-3
Ireland responded when Ferris broke down the left touch line, fixing the defence he popped to O’Driscoll who offloaded to David Wallace. With work still to do, Wallace cantered in and O’Gara slotted over the conversion. With 27-10 on the clock and 15 minutes still to play were Ireland going to stage the comeback of all comebacks?
Morgan Parra had a penalty come off the posts, and while O’Garas clearance kick brought about a momentary release in pressure, the French counter was swift and immediate. Freddy Michalak entered the fray and immediately got involved in the next French counter attack which resulted in Parra kicking over another fine penalty to extend the home-sides lead by 20 points, 30-10.
Reddan came on for O’Leary and O’Gara made way for Sexton as Kidney tried to add something to a fixture which was slipping beyond his grasp.
With 8 minutes left to play, Ireland were looking to benefit from a 5 metre attacking lineout. As the forwards mauled closer to the line, the French defence held good, and after each phase, Ireland found themselves further from the line. One could not fault the Irish commitment as they to a man, gave it their all.
However the French weren’t finished and as they patiently worked their way up field with the clock ticking away, the mercurial Michalak knocked over a fine drop goal to keep the scoreboard rolling and crucially France came away with some points from their visit into the Irish 22
Despite a late break by O’Driscoll, the game finally ended to the tune of 33-10.
What will frustrate the players and coach most is not the gameplan, nor the execution but the little passes which would normally stick, just went astray. Perhaps the reason for this was because Ireland were forced to play a little above the intensity which they are used to, and the French exerted supreme pressure with a rock solid defence. The early French lead set Ireland on the back foot and unable to clip the roosters wings, they were left chasing the game. As the clock ticked down Ireland were forcing passes and gambling on options which weren’t really there and for that they paid a heavy price.
There is a reason why France haven’t been beaten at home in nine years, and today Ireland experienced the might of a French team who are really only starting to come into their own.
France
15. Poitrenaud
14. Clerc
13. Bastareaud
12. Jauzion
11. Palisson
10. Trinh-Duc
9. Parra
8. Harinordoquy,
7. Ouedraog
6. Dusautoir (cap)
5. Papé
4. Nallet
3. Mas
2. Servat
1. Domingo
Replacements : Szarzewski, Marconnet, Pierre, Bonnaire, Michalak, Marty, Malzieu
Ireland
15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 - Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
10 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
9 - Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster)
3 - John Hayes (Bruff/Munster)
4 - Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster)
5 - Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster)
6 - Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 - David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)
Replacements :
16 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
19 - Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
20 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
22 - Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
