Irish stumble out of the slips
France exorcised their Scottish demons by recorded a bizarre 43-31 victory over Ireland in Paris on Saturday, racking up six tries before their guests mounted a brave but late response.
The French seemed on course for a resounding victory as they opened up a 43-3 lead over the error-prone Irish.
Ireland rallied to touch down through Ronan O'Gara, Gordon D'Arcy, Donncha O'Callaghan and Andrew Trimble in the second half but France had done enough.
Cédric Heymans and David Marty scored two tries apiece for France after Aurelien Rougerie had justified his recall by starting what, for an hour, looked like being a rout in the third minute.
The afternoon started badly for Ireland as Rougerie found space to touch down out wide and Olivier Magne, also restored to the side, added a second after eight minutes.
Marty charged down a kick to claim his first and a poor Geordan Murphy pass allowed Heymans to intercept and add another before the interval.
Heymans claimed his second five minutes after the restart and Marty made it 43-3 three minutes later.
Ireland scored what seemed a consolation as O'Gara found his way in by the posts on 56 minutes but D'Arcy followed him over four minutes later.
O'Callaghan then forced his way over from close range and Trimble set up a remarkable finish with another moments later.
Despite further pressure, it was all too late for Ireland, however, and France held on.
France made a blistering start with Ireland pushed back at two consecutive scrums but there was worse to come with their line breached in just the third minute.
The second buckling scrum saw the ball released to the backs where Tommy Bowe's missed tackle on Heymans created an overlap which Rougerie finished in the right corner.
Brian O'Driscoll made a couple of darting runs as Ireland searched for an immediate reply and scrum-half Peter Stringer almost wriggled over before being shoved back.
But their good work was undone when France ran in their second try thanks to the vision of Heymans whose quickly taken 22 drop-out found acres of the space on the left.
Denis Leamy and Geordan Murphy covered across but the ball bounced cruelly and fell to the onrushing Frédéric Michalak who supplied the scoring pass to Magne.
Jean-Baptiste Elissalde added the two points and the problems continued for Ireland when one promising move ended with openside David Wallace running out of space with no support.
By the 18th minute Ireland looked dead and buried as France had extended their lead to 19 points after David Marty charged down Ronan O'Gara's clearance, gathered and touched down. Elissalde converted.
Ireland looked to bring in Shane Horgan off the wing as often as possible and the tactic worked with the Leinster winger frequently crossing the gain-line.
But they were often losing the ball at the breakdown with France's back row gaining ascendancy in the loose.
O'Driscoll lost the ball in the tackle as Ireland probed down the left touchline, allowing France to clear their lines, while Geordan Murphy and Gordon D'Arcy sent two passes into touch, squandering valuable possession.
O'Gara booted Ireland off the mark with a penalty but Elissalde replied in kind, and it was not long before France had extended their lead with a fourth try.
O'Sullivan will be furious with the manner in which it was scored as Murphy floated a loose pass to no-one in particular and the impressive Heymans easily intercepted and romped home.
Elissalde booted the extras to give France a 29-3 interval lead which Ireland had no hope of overcoming given their desperate lack of direction in attack.
France began the second period as they had the first, and Marty worked Heymans into the corner for a simple run-in in the 44th minute and Elissalde rubbed salt into the Ireland's wounds by kicking the conversion.
Just when Ireland thought it could not get any worse it did three minutes later when O'Gara kicked the ball straight at Marty who caught and dashed over the whitewash from 20 yards out.
Murphy provided some inspiration as the Irish went close to crossing, breaking from deep before the ball found Wallace via D'Arcy only for the Munster openside to be tackled five metres short.
The visitors maintained the pressure by launching waves of attacks and eventually the French defence collapsed with O'Gara scampering home and the converting his own try.
Ireland hit back again in the 70th minute with D'Arcy finishing a break from Stringer but a raft of substitutions had left France looking disjointed.
Donncha O'Callaghan barged over and O'Gara converted to slash the deficit to 43-24 and there were a few worried faces when O'Driscoll set up Ireland's fourth try for Andrew Trimble.
But they could not add to the score in the last 10 minutes as relieved France held out for the victory.
Man of the match: Ireland were awful in the first half and sublime in the second. France were sublime in the first half and awful in the second. Given the bizarre circumstances, it's hard to know where this award should be thrust. Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy and Paul O'Connell all put in brave showings but their lack of cohesion in the early stages rules them out of contention. David Marty and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde sparkled for France, but it was the old warhorse from London Irish who caught the eye -- Olivier Magne. And they say he's passed it ...
Moment of the match: France's opening blitz will live long in the memory -- and so will Fabien Pelous's face of incredulity as the final whistle ushered in a chorus of jeers from the French crowd. There's no tougher crowd then Paris!
Villain of the match: Could it be the receptionist at Ireland's hotel? The visitors clearly didn't receive their wake-up call.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Heymans 2, Magne, Marty 2, Rougerie
Cons: Elissalde 5
Pen: Elissalde
For Ireland:
Tries: Trimble, O'Gara, D'Arcy, O'Callaghan
Cons: O'Gara 4
Pen: O'Gara
The teams:
France: 15 Christophe Dominici, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 David Marty, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Frédéric Michalak, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Olivier Magne, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Jérôme Thion, 4 Fabien Pelous (captain), 3 Pieter de Villiers, 2 Raphaël Ibañez, 1 Olivier Milloud.
Replacements: 16 Sébastien Bruno, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Lionel Nallet, 19 Rémy Martin, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 Benjamin Boyet, 22 Ludovic Valbon.
Ireland: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Tommy Bowe, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Malcolm O'Kelly, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Reggie Corrigan.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Rmon Best, 18 Donncha O'Callaghan, 19 Johnny O'Connor, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 David Humphreys, 22 Andrew Trimble.
Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Chris White (England), Rob Dickson (Scotland)
Television match official: Roy Maybank (England)
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