Ireland got their Six Nations campaign off to a perfect start on Friday night with a crushing 21-point victory over France in Marseille.
Playing in their first match since the heartbreaking Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat against New Zealand last October, Ireland ran in five tries in a dominant 38--17 win, their biggest-ever win on French soil.
Early tries from Jamison Gibson-Park and Tadhg Beirne crossed the tryline in the opening 30 minutes as Ireland raced out of the traps against a sluggish French side to take a 17-3 lead at the half-hour mark.
Their cause was boosted when French second-row Paul Willemse was sent off almost immediately after Beirne's try.
Willemse, who had already been sin-binned for a dangerously high tackle on Ireland's Andrew Porter, was shown a second yellow card and sent off when his shoulder connected with Caelan Dorris' head.
Willemse's dismissal appeared to kick France into life and they finally began to put some pressure on the Irish tryline, despite the numerical disadvantage.
The French battered on the Irish door for several minutes before the electric Damian Penaud crossed on the stroke of halftime to reduce the deficit to just seven points at the break.
France continued where they left off in the second half and won a kickable penalty to reduce the deficit to just four points, but Thomas Ramos crucially sent the kick wide of the posts.
Ireland responded emphatically, with Munster winger Calvin Nash crossing in the corner to mark his Six Nations debut with a try and push the lead back out to 14.
However, France would not go away and appeared to have set up a grand-stand finish when Paul Gabrillagues touched down to reduce the deficit to seven. Ireland's Peter O'Mahony was also sin-binned for bringing down a maul, temporarily reducing Ireland to 14 players and evening up the odds.
Ireland stood firm in the face of pressure, however, and put the game beyond doubt with tries from hooker Dan Sheehan and his replacement Ronan Kelleher to seal a memorable bonus point win in the south of France.
Jack Crowley, starting at fly-half in the first game since the retirement of the legendary Johnny Sexton, kicked five conversions out of five during a solid outing the number 10 jersey, despite missing a routine first-half penalty.
Ireland, meanwhile, have gotten their Six Nations defense off to a dream start and now look forward to back-to-back home games against Italy and Wales.
Comments