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Ireland run 14-man France ragged in Six Nations romp for the ages
By PA
Ireland ruthlessly capitalised on the absence of Antoine Dupont to launch their Guinness Six Nations title defence with a stunning 38-17 bonus-point demolition of 14-man France.
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Both sides came into a mouth-watering tournament curtain-raiser in Marseille on the back of agonising World Cup quarter-finals exits.
Tries from Jamison Gibson-Park, Tadhg Beirne, Calvin Nash, Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher ensured it was the reigning Grand Slam champions who stylishly bounced back at the first attempt to propel themselves into pole position for further championship glory.
France’s quest for victory at a largely subdued Stade Velodrome was damaged by the indiscipline of lock Paul Willemse, who was sent off in the 32nd minute following a high hit on Caelan Doris having previously been sin-binned for a similar challenge on Andrew Porter.
Scores from Damian Penaud and Paul Gabrillagues and seven points from the boot of Thomas Ramos gave the pre-tournament favourites hope.
But Ireland, aided by 13 points from Jack Crowley on his first Six Nations start, deservedly romped to another statement victory of the Andy Farrell era.
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The two teams came into a blockbuster showdown seeking to ease disappointment at falling short in their efforts to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in the autumn and having each lost influential captains.
Dupont’s temporary unavailability, as he focuses on his country’s sevens squad for this year’s Paris Olympics, afforded a start to scrum-half Maxime Lucu, while Crowley was given a chance to stake his claim as long-term fly-half successor to the retired Johnny Sexton.
Farrell’s men began in the ascendancy and led through an early Crowley penalty before Willemse was ordered off for ploughing into prop Porter.
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A relieved Willemse had just learnt his yellow card would not be upgraded to red on review when Gibson-Park latched on to a fine Bundee Aki offload to ensure Ireland capitalised on their temporary numerical advantage.
Three points from France full-back Ramos’ penalty briefly improved the mood in the stands before Beirne collected Crowley’s pass to easily beat Jonathan Danty and dive over under the posts at the end of sustained Irish pressure.
Willemse’s reprieve proved only to be fleeting as he was dismissed eight minutes before the break following another dangerous challenge, this time on Doris.
Ireland were in complete control but head coach Farrell would have been frustrated to only hold a 17-10 half-time lead after Penaud, who moments early was repelled by a superb Hugo Keenan tackle, produced a spectacular finish to Matthieu Jalibert’s pass.
The visitors set aside the setback to restore their 14-point advantage six minutes after the restart as Munster wing Nash marked his first Test start with a memorable maiden try after being freed by Doris.
Deprived of Dupont, France were largely rudderless in attack.
But Fabien Galthie’s side again cut the deficit when Gabrillagues’ score was awarded following a lengthy review, an incident compounded from an Irish perspective by new captain Peter O’Mahony being sin-binned for bringing down the maul.
Ireland once more earned breathing space 18 minutes from time when Sheehan peeled off a rolling maul to finish his own line-out.
The staggeringly-simple score secured a merited bonus point for the dominant visitors and proved to be the fatal blow to French resistance.
Yet there was more punishment to come for the ragged hosts as replacement hooker Kelleher bulldozed over to cap a fine Ireland performance and ramp up pressure on Les Bleus head coach Galthie.
Dupond here DuPont there, I think Les Bleues should have enough talent to side a competitive team …. pretty disappointing display yesterday ….
Ireland on a about the same level as in their QF loss against the All Blacks (nowhere near the clinical brilliance as in the pool games vs Boks or Scotland), but that was enough to destroy an uneven France
Agreed. Rust or rot?
Seems like Ireland has a future after Sexton, but france seem to not spark without Du pont? They will need to work in that, what happens if he gets badly injured before a world cup or something
DuPont was France’s keystone in the game they played in ‘22, ‘23.
They must not have solved his absence as they tried to play a La Rochelle game against Ireland. Ireland have moved on and easily manipulated France into a DuPont needed gameplan, with no DuPont. We all saw the result.
O’Mahoney’s achievement was to keep the team ultra cool and focused. Cold calculated intensity from Ireland.
We could have 2 or 3 Dupont, when you play like this you can’t win. I’ve seen better teams in Prod2… There will be better days, well done Ireland !
They’ll duct tape him together and pick him.
“For the ages” lolol. Great win but stay in the “now” guys.
The whole commentary was such a laugh. Its great for the game billing it up as their WC Final though, creates a lot of good casual hype.
The half I watched before falling asleep wasn’t pretty. But well done to Ireland. France looked lost.
Ireland and France are fairly well matched teams but France let themselves down and Ireland executed properly. The discipline from France was shocking and they never got to utilise their forward power or silky counterattacking skills because they kept infringing. Cant really complain after a result like that
Ireland were using footwork before contact and breaking metres past the gainline every time. France wanted a game that suited their brutal forwards. They got a game that suited ours. They didn’t get near our rucks. Edwards said Ireland lost the ball 4 times in the entire game. Very hard to beat.
Yeah, France will be France.
Bye the same vein Ireland again so consistent in their performance. Thats been a real hallmark of their game now too.
The card will be the talk of the day, but it really shouldn’t. France never looked like winning the match, not even at full strength.
They played well below their standard.
“Deprived of Dupont, France were largely rudderless in attack”
Not having du Pont available is a good thing. France needs to expand their horizons. They’re too dependent on him. And they looked flat footed on defence. Those big forwards in particular.
Ballsac yellows showing how hilariously, maddingly stupid rugby union has become. Reactionary taints who would rather spoil a match than face the music.
France was 3-17 down when he saw red. Agree about the cards but it wasn’t a game decider here.
Yeah I felt the ref should have looked harder for mitigation on the second, with where first contact was. Seems they still don’t care about the impact on the game.
Head injuries aren’t much fun anymore Monsieur Robbins. Times have changed.
Law 9.11:
Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others, including leading with the elbow or forearm, or jumping into, or over, a tackler
Law 9.13:
A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders.
If a player breaks these laws and the act is deemed to be reckless or dangerous, then the referee is entitled to issue a yellow or red card.
“Player welfare drives World Rugby’s decision making for zero tolerance of foul play, especially where head contact occurs. The focus must be on the actions of those involved, not the injury – the need for an HIA [a Head Injury Assessment] does not necessarily mean that there has been illegal head contact.”
You (and Willemse) can find more info directly on World Rugby’s Passport website under their March 2021 updates on head contact processes.