France pulled out all the stops in Saturday’s classic 6 Nations game against Ireland. The Irish last year’s Grand Slam winners and favourites for this year’s tournament came under the cosh from the French, who are placing their ambitions firmly on the table this year.
Magnificent in defence and attack the French showed their true qualities, Francois Trinh-Duc was on fire and probably this was his finest performance yet, for his National team.
The variation in his play was superb, often criticised for his kicking game, but not today, he alternated his play so well that the only thing he did not do was score a try but he did come very close at least three times and very unlucky to just miss out.
But one man cannot win a game on his own, the work of the French forwards was talented and aggressive in all its forms with Fulgence Ouedraogo once again doing more than his fair share of tackling, the French defended their try line for a full 7-8 minutes just before half time, the Irish could not break their solid defence.
Scrum half Morgan Parra played a pivotal role releasing fast ball whenever possible for his backs, while Francois Trinh- Duc played his role as Chef d’Orchestre to perfection, his two missed passes creating tries for Jauzion, and Poitrenaud, the 3rd coming from a ruck where Servat received the ball and nobody could stop him crashing over against the foot of the upright. While Parra added 2 conversions and a magnificent drop goal, Michalak added one of his own in the dying minutes. The Irish did get a consolation try through Wallace, but were never any match for the rampant French XV, who created a multitude of opportunities and the score could have been much heavier than the final 33-10, this puts France firmly at the top of the 6 Nations, with the next match against Wales in Cardiff in a couple of weeks time, can France continue to perhaps another Grand Slam in this years tournament.

Steve Whittell.

copyright olivier.debove