France turned the 2025 Six Nations on its head as they produced a stunning display to hammer Ireland 42-27 at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Much of the talk beforehand was about Fabien Galthie’s decision to go with a 7-1 split on the bench, but the decision paid off despite seeing their star man Antoine Dupont limp off in the first half and end with a forward in the backline after Pierre-Louis Barassi suffered a head injury.
Maxime Lucu came on for Dupont and was utterly magnificent as Les Bleus built on an 8-6 half-time lead given to them by Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s try and Thomas Ramos’ penalty.
Ireland had actually gone ahead after the break through Dan Sheehan, whose try followed two first-half three-pointers by Sam Prendergast, but the visitors would go on to thrash Simon Easterby’s charges.
They played some superb rugby at times and further tries from Paul Boudehent, Bielle-Biarrey, Oscar Jegou and Damian Penaud took them to a potentially defining Six Nations success.
France moved to the top of the table and, providing they beat Scotland next weekend, will end Ireland’s chances of claiming an unprecedented three-peat.
It was always going to be a brutal encounter and the opening quarter set the tone for the match as both teams went into contact viciously.
Ireland dominated the opening 20 minutes as they kept the French guessing with their dexterity with ball in hand. Les Bleus did not help themselves by conceding a series of penalties, but the hosts were putting them under severe duress.
Somehow Galthie’s men managed to survive the onslaught with some incredible last-ditch defence and that proved crucial in the end result.
France eventually managed to edge themselves into the contest and, after having a try ruled out for a knock-on following a turnover, they opened the scoring minutes later.
It started with Thomas Ramos and Bielle-Biarrey linking up down the left-hand side before the wing chipped over the top. Although Robbie Henshaw was there to clean up, earlier in the move Joe McCarthy cynically pulled Ramos back and was duly sin-binned.
With the lock off the field, the visitors took advantage as they mauled towards the line before Dupont spotted space out wide and Bielle-Biarrey was on hand to touch down.
However, the away side suffered what seemed like a huge blow when their talisman was taken off with a serious-looking injury after Tadhg Beirne landed on his leg.
Officials have clamped down on those type of acts over the past couple of years but not this time as it was deemed to have been an accidental collision.
Ireland would take advantage of that let-off as Prendergast’s two penalties to Ramos’ one kept them in the game at the interval.
They then moved ahead as Sheehan’s score from a dominant drive gave the hosts a 13-8 advantage, but from thereon in it was all about Galthie’s side.
The French were utterly magnificent and responded immediately to that effort from the hooker as a brilliant move resulted in Boudehent crossing the whitewash.
In that same attack, Calvin Nash took Barassi high and it resulted in a yellow card for the winger.
France would once again take advantage of the extra man when Penaud instigated a counter-attack and found Bielle-Biarrey on the left. The youngster still had loads to do but, of course, the special talent found a way, kicking ahead and touching down.
At that point, Ireland were still just about in the game but the fresh French forwards were doing their job and another infringement enabled Ramos to extend the lead from the tee.
All the momentum was with the visitors and their ‘Bomb Squad’ made the desired impact as Jegou touched down from close range.
That was well and truly game over, with Ireland’s Grand Slam dreams fading, but they still wanted to really rubberstamp the win and that came through Penaud, despite a couple of late scores via Cian Healy and Jack Conan.
The teams
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Jamie Osborne, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Calvin Nash, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 James Ryan, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Ryan Baird, 22 Conor Murray, 23 Jack Crowley
France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Mickaël Guillard, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Emmanuel Meafou, 20 Hugo Auradou, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Anthony Jelonch, 23 Maxime Lucu
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Christophe Ridley (England)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
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