France 17 Ireland 38
Life after Johnny doesn’t look so bad at all. Ireland cast the Rugby World Cup adrift with a stunningly composed, complete and satisfying performance to earn Ireland’s biggest and best Six Nations win on French soil.
Pretty much everything clicked from first to last as save for despairing power plays, the Irish forwards so dominated their counterparts that they even rounded off the night with a couple of catch-and-drive tries with both their first and second choice packs.
The lineouts, another prematch area of concern, clicked gloriously, with a perfect 12 from 12 off the throwing of the magnificent Dan Sheehan and all five of Ireland’s tries emanated from this steady supply line.
Joe McCarthy’s selection for his first Six Nations start was thoroughly vindicated with a barnstorming man of the match display, the breakdown work was outstanding, and there were big games from a host of players, not least Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe.
Fearful of this Irish threat, and rightly so as it transpired, Fabien Galthié had opted for a short-term, cautious fix by recalling two venerable locks but his loyalty was not repaid by Paul Willemse, sent-off in the 32nd minute for a second high hit.
However, on this opening night the die had already been cast, with Ireland two tries and 17-3 to the good by then on a night when France were humiliated.
On a pleasant evening on the Mediterranean, the atmosphere crackled in this steepling stadium, with its undulating roof, not least when the lights were dimmed and the crowd roared the French players’ surnames, and when La Marseillaise was sung A cappella.
So it was a credit to the Irish performance that for the first 35 minutes or so, the home crowd were largely becalmed. Jack Crowley’s hanging kick-offs down the middle, Hugo Keenan’s chasing and James Lowe’s monster boot helped them dominant territory, while the lineout positively purred, provided a reliable launch pad even when the French contested Dan Sheehan’s superb throws.
Lowe also made an important intercept when snaffling a pass by Thomas Ramos before being tackled high by Charles Ollivon. Crowley having kicked to the corner, he then opened the scoring with a penalty for offside.
Willemse’s first high shot, on Porter, also led to more Irish pressure, albeit Crowley overcooked an ill-advised grubber into a tight in-goal area. But after McCarthy’s big hit on Grégory Alldritt, Lowe won some aerial ping-pong and Sheehan’s sixth successful throw, to the tail, allowed Ireland to launch Lowe infield.
From the recycle, Henshaw passed deftly to Bundee Aki on the edge and reviving his potent World Cup form, the latter used his footwork and strength to take out two men and free his right hand to offload inside for the supporting Jamison Gibson-Park to score.
Ramos did land a scrum penalty against Andrew Porter, but Ireland were soon banging on the door again off another Beirne take from Sheehan’s throw. Beirne also picked up a loose Tadhg Furlong pass to carry over the gain line and a few phases later took a lovely out-and-in line off Crowley’s soft pass to beat a flailing Jonathan Danty and add to his three World Cup tries.
With Crowley missing a straightish 35 metre penalty and Van der Flier having being held up over the line, their 17-3 lead was the least they deserved.
Willemse incurred his second yellow with a similar high shoulder to the head, this time of Caelan Doris. Not even the French crowd could bemoan that decision although they were soon beseeching the officials for perceived injustices.
France built up a huge head of steam with their power game off a procession of penalties to the corner before Damian Penaud worked across the pitch to appear on Matthieu Jalibert’s shoulder for his 32nd Test try, and 18th in 13 games this season for club and country.
However, reprieved by a Ramos’ miss off the tee, Ireland went to the corner and their lineout again after Porter won a penalty in the poach, McCarthy making another big carry, as did Lowe, to give the 10-phase attack momentum. Henshaw then stepped Jalibert and offloaded off the deck for Doris to skilfully give Calvin Nash the finish in the left corner on his full Test debut.
Crowley even landed the touchline conversion before France’s power game against went into overdrive after a questionable reversed penalty against Crowley for taking out the airborne Fickou. This culminated in Paul Gabrillagues being awarded a questionable close-range finish when there was no clear evidence that Gibson-Park had not prevented the lock’s grounding.
What’s more, O’Mahony was also binned for pulling down the maul but Ireland weren’t remotely put off their task, Lowe doing brilliantly to force a turnover. When Penaud shot up offside as France had to absorb more pressure, again Ireland went to the corner, again Sheehan hit McCarthy and as the maul rumbled forward and dispersed the French pack into pieces, Sheehan peeled off the drive to score Ireland’s bonus-point try, and again Crowley made it a seven-pointer from near the left touchline.
Inside the last 10 minutes the home crowd were reduced to booing another rendition of The Fields, and the home team gave up the ghost when Rónan Kelleher hit James Ryan, the replacement hooker plundered Ireland’s fifth try; again Crowley landing another fine conversion.
Some way to sooth the pain from the World Cup.
Scoring sequence: 7 mins Crowley pen 0-3; 16 mins Gibson-Park try, Crowley con 0-10; 27 mins Ramos pen 3-10; 30 mins Beirne try, Crowley con 0-17; 40 mins Penaud try, Ramos con 10-17; (half-time 10-17); 46 mins Nash try, Crowley con 10-24; 53 mins Gabrillagues try, Ramos con 17-24; 62 mins Sheehan try, Crowley con 17-31; 78 mins Kelleher try, Crowley con 17-38.
France: T Ramos; D Penaud, G Fickou, J Danty, Y Moefana; M Jalibert, M Lucu; C Baille, P Mauvaka, U Atonio, P Gabrillagues, P Willemse, F Cros, C Ollivon, G Alldritt (capt).
Replacements: J Marchand for Mauvaka, R Wardi for Baille, D Aldegheri for Atonio, P Tuilagi for Gabrillagues (all 53 mins), N Le Garrec for Lucu, L Bielle-Biarrey for Danty (both 64 mins), C Woki for Cros, P Boudehent for Ollivon (La Rochelle) (both 65 mins).
Yellow card: Willemse (9 mins).
Red card: Willemse (32 mins).
Ireland: H Keenan; C Nash, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Lowe; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; T Beirne, J McCarthy; P O’Mahony, J Van der Flier, C Doris.
Replacements: C Healy for Porter (9-19 and 64 mins), R Kelleher for Sheehan, F Bealham for Furlong (both 64 mins), J Ryan for McCarthy, R Baird for O’Mahony, J Conan for Van der Flier (all 67 mins), C Murray for Gibson-Park (70 mins), C Frawley for Nash (77 mins).
Yellow card: O’Mahony (53 mins)
Referee: Karl Dickson (England).
