Ireland got their 2009 Six Nations campaign off to a winning start on Saturday with a 30-21 victory over France in an enthralling, high-paced encounter at Croke Park.
Despite playing entertaining rugby and having the lion's share of possession, France were unable to repeat their last-minute victory of two years ago at the same venue as Ireland triumphed over Les Bleus for the first time in six years.
Declan Kidney's team cashed in on every opportunity that came their way to outscore their visitors three tries to two.
In stark contrast to England's dour display at Twickenham earlier in the day, no one could complain that the teams didn't entertain. France came good on their promise of playing enterprising rugby and Ireland's backs finally came up with the spark that has been missing for so long.
As expected, Ireland's win was built on the hard graft of their ever-efficient pack, but a few flashes of class from the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Gordon D'Arcy kept the scoreboard ticking over.
But it was the Irish loose trio that stood out. A try for Jamie Heaslip was just reward for a tireless effort. On numerous occasions, possession was ripped from French hands at vital times.
Ronan O'Gara opened the scoring for the home side after just two minutes with a penalty from 35 metres out after Lionel Faure was penalised for not rolling away.
France had not yet touched the ball and were three points down but dominated possession for the rest of the half.
The visitors scored the first try on the quarter-hour mark with a piece of flowing rugby.
Maxime Médard had the Irish defence scrambling with a chip down the left touch line and Sébastien Tillous-Borde had the presence of mind to send a long cross-field pass out to Sebastien Chabal. The big lock rumbled forward before finding Julien Malzieu, who did well while skirting the touchline to offload to Imanol Harinordoquy and the French number eight charged over to put his side ahead.
Lionel Beauxis' conversion was almost immediately countered by a second penalty from O'Gara, when Dimitri Szarzewski was adjudged off-side.
Apart from the opening foray, it had been all France for twenty minutes, but the home side were just one point adrift.
Five minutes from the half-time a break from Kearney turned the game on its head. The full-back beat a couple of tackles as the Irish back-line produced it's most fluid move in many moons.
Kearney's break led to the supporting Tommy Bowe carrying on the charge. The recycled ball found Jamie Heaslip, and a big step from the number eight wrong footed the defence before he sprinted over for a vital score.
Being behind didn't put France off their enterprising game as Chabal made a barnstorming run to put his team back on the attack. With the referee playing advantage for an Irish offside, Beauxis struck one of his trademark drop goals from 40 metres out to make the score 13-10 to the hosts as the teams trotted off at half time.
Ireland started the second period in perfect fashion to move further ahead as skipper O'Driscoll scored a fantastic try. It was classic BOD -- straight running to beat his man -- Beauxis -- followed by a clean step to get around the last line of defence- Julien Malzieu.
France struck right back as Maxime Médard scored thanks to an inch-perfect cross-field kick-pass from Beauxis after Harinordoquy had grabbed a loose ball.
Beauxis followed up with his second drop goal. Three points it might have added, but one could not help feel that it was a waste of quality possession at that moment. What exactly the fascination with drops is in French rugby is beyond me, overkill is the word that springs to mind.
At 20-18 it was anyone's game but Ireland once again nicked the advantage. A clever chip ahead from O'Driscoll put the blue line-out jumpers and their fly-half under pressure, setting up an attacking line-out for the home side.
D'Arcy rounded off a few phases from the heavies by twisting himself over the line for a well deserved try.
A penalty from Beauxis with four minutes to play made the scores 27-21, setting up a tense finale. But O'Gara's sixth successful place-kick a minute later put the game out of the visitors' reach.
France will head home obviously disappointed with the result, but showed enough to maintain hopes of victory in this year's tournament.
For Ireland, their first victory in eight games against France has confirmed their status as genuine title contenders. A fascinating month awaits us -- as does that game in Cardiff on March 21!
Man of the match: Imanol Harinordoquy was the stand-out player for the visitors with an excellent display in both the line-outs and loose play. Sebastien Chabal deserves a mention, as does Beauxis in his first game in Blue since the World Cup. For Ireland Brian O'Driscoll silenced his critics with his best display in a long time and Rob Kearney was exciting on attack. But Jamie Heaslip gets our vote. His try was awesome but his night was summed up by winning a penalty for O'Gara to slot in the dying minutes by wrapping up Cedric Heymans, who was forced to hold on in the tackle.
Moment of the match: Both O'Driscoll and Heaslip's tries were gems, but Gordon D'Arcy's try on 66 minutes put the Irish ahead at a vital time and forced the French to loose their composure a little.
Villain of the match: No serious mischief to report.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: Heaslip, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy
Cons: O'Gara 3
Pens: O'Gara 3
For France:
Tries: Harinordoquy, Medard
Con: Beauxis
Drops: Beauxis 2
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mal O'Kelly, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.
France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Maxime Medard, 10 Lionel Beauxis, 9 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Lionel Nallet (c), 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Nicolas Mas, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 Benoit Baby, 22 Cedric Heymans.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges: Dave Pearson (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO: Giulio de Santis (Italy)
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