France's renaissance as a free-running force took root in Paris on Saturday as they raced to an absorbing 26-21 victory over Ireland, but an unexpected Irish comeback in the second half had French hearts in French mouths.
Ireland were on the ropes after Vincent Clerc's powered home with a hat-trick of tries in the first half.
The visitors then responded magnificently with a penalty try, a touchdown by David Wallace and a Ronan O'Gara penalty -- his third of the game.
But with France's forwards crumbling before their eyes, Ireland ran out of time to complete what would have been an amazing comeback.
France attacked Geordan Murphy's wing mercilessly from the off and their ruthless streak paid off with the Leicester back exposed on two occasions.
Clerc was the beneficiary and needed no second invitation to raise his strike rate to 20 tries from 30 caps.
It was the pacy Toulouse wing, possibly the best player in Europe on current form, who broke Irish hearts with his injury-time winner at Croke Park in last year's Six Nations.
That score effectively denied Ireland the Grand Slam and Clerc was equally predatory in the rivals' pool game at the World Cup, plundering a brace of tries as France prevailed 25-3.
Cédric Heymans also crossed in Paris on Saturday while Jean-Baptiste Elissalde kicked seven points to put France in the driving seat -- until their second-half implosion.
France coach Marc Lièvremont replaced prop Lionel Faure and hooker Dimitri Szarzewski with William Servat and Julien Brugnaut early in the second half and their scrum disintegrated as a result.
Ireland, kept in touch by the kicking of Ronan O'Gara who finished with 11 points, took full advantage as the confidence drained from their opponents.
They dominated the forward battle after the interval, forcing a penalty try with a string of big scrums before David Wallace finished a drive from his pack.
Heading into the final quarter Ireland looked capable of registering a first win in Paris since 2000 but France escaped by the skin of the teeth.
The spirited performance will have eased the pressure on coach Eddie O'Sullivan, who has been heavily criticised since the World Cup, but France were undoubtedly the architects of their collapse.
It was an astonishing finish that contrasted markedly with Ireland's first-half woes.
Lame tackling saw Aurélien Rougerie waved through in the fourth minute, the Clermont winger taking a quick tap close to his line and breaking through.
He slipped through three tackles before being caught by the cover but openside Thierry Dusautoir was at the breakdown in a flash and Ireland infringed.
Jean Baptiste Elissalde pushed the simple chance wide and France's ominous opening continued with Cédric Heymans almost smashing his way over.
A dashing break from Andrew Trimble halted the early French assault, however, with some slick interchange ending when Wallace was pounded into the turf by Szarzewski.
Ireland created an overlap on the right that full-back Girvan Dempsey wasted with a delayed pass as France met their opponents' flourish with some ferocious defence.
Keeping the ball to good effect, the Irish continued to make inroads only to be outmuscled at a breakdown and pay a heavy price.
In a move that evoked memories of Clerc's try in the World Cup group game, Elissalde side-footed the ball onto the right wing where only Denis Leamy was stationed.
Blindside flanker Leamy did not have the legs to outpace Clerc to the ball and he galloped.
Elissalde converted and Ireland's woes deepened four minutes later when Clerc completed his double.
Murphy drifted off his wing to tackle David Skrela even through the Irish cover had lined him up and seeing the overlap, the Stade Français fly-half supplied the scoring pass to Clerc.
Ireland responded to the early setback with an encouraging passage of play that was ruined by an ill-judged long pass from Brian O'Driscoll and a poor handling error by O'Gara.
A pair of O'Gara penalties reduced the deficit to 12-6 but in the 37th minute Clerc's sensational afternoon just got better.
Toulouse team-mate Heymans created the space with an arched run before handing Clerc a routine finish.
Dazzling footwork swept O'Driscoll into space in the 46th minute but the Ireland skipper was alone and France were able to turn the ball over
There was more than a hint of luck about France's fourth try as Elissalde's chip through deflected off O'Driscoll and through his legs into the path of Heymans.
Only Dempsey and O'Gara were covering back but the full-back showed them a clean pair of heals and Elissalde converted.
Ireland struck back in unusual circumstances by pulverising France at a series of five-metre scrums and referee Nigel Owens awarded a penalty try that was improved by O'Gara.
The French pack had gone to sleep, caving in for a second time in the 62nd minute when openside David Wallace powered over from close range.
Buoyed by their ongoing success up front, Ireland continued to pound away and made huge inroads into the back-pedalling French.
A long-range penalty from O'Gara slashed the deficit to 26-21 and when Reddan broke free French hearts were in their mouths.
Ireland surged ahead and looked set to land the decisive blow but Heymans swept back to cover a Rob Kearney chip and Les Bleus were saved.
Man of the match: Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan will be pleased with the collective will his side showed in the second half, and there was also moments for Ireland to cheer in the first half -- luck just didn't seem to go their way. If we must pick out an Irish individual it would be Jamie Heaslip who grew in stature as the game progressed. The boy could well be around for the long run. It was a bit of a mixed bag from the locals, with Fulgence Ouedraogo and his lifters gaining plaudits after destroying Ireland's set-piece. Meanwhile, the blue back-three were excellent, perhaps almost too good as the rest of the side seemed to start to simply expect tries towards the end. France coach Marc Lièvremont is making a name for himself as a bold selector, and French scribes will undoubtedly relish the chance to quiz him over his decision to drop Vincent Clerc for the game, only reinstating him after Julien Malzieu was ruled out injured. With three tries and more gas than the North Sea, the Toulouse flyer is our man of the match -- again!
Moment of the Match: Plenty of fine counter-attacking from France, and the last few edge-of-the-seat moments will live long in our memory. But we'll opted for David Skrela's cheeky nutmegging of Brian O'Driscoll that lead to France's last try -- art trumping muscle ... it seemed to sum up the day.
Villain of the Match: Not much to moan about in this one -- all good, clean fun: no award.
The scorers:
For France:
Tries: Heymans, Clerc 3
Cons: Elissalde 3
For Ireland:
Tries: Penalty Try, Wallace
Cons: O'Gara
Pens: O'Gara 3
France: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 David Marty, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Vincent Clerc, 10 David Skrela, 9 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Arnaud Méla, 3 Lionel Faure, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Nicolas Mas.
Replacements: 16 William Servat, 17 Julien Brugnaut, 18 Loïc Jacquet, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 François Trinh-Duc, 22 Anthony Floch.
Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Geordan Murphy, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 12 Andrew Trimble, 11 Rob Kearney, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Denis Leamy, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Bernard Jackman, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Simon Easterby, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Shane Horgan.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (South Africa)
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