Ireland 19 - 26 France
Grand Slam dream is dead for another year. It’s 57 years since Karl Mullen’s side beat everything in front of them but for Brian O’Driscoll’s generation, it’s going take another year at least to etch their names in history, if they’re to do it at all. Yesterday, Ireland were well beaten by a French side who came to town to play rugby, and not, as many had suggested, go through the motions.
Right from the very first whistle they made their intentions clear. Jerome Thion, the second-row from Biarritz, clawed Ronan O’Gara’s kick-off from the skies and his pack rolled around him to set up the first maul of the afternoon, pushing Ireland’s pack 15 metres in the process. It was a clear statement of intent from the visitors. The big boys in blue weren’t in the mood for being pushed around.
Ireland clearly struggled with the sheer physicality of the French pack but that wasn’t the only reason for yesterday’s defeat. Ireland made a string of simple errors, errors that they haven’t been making for a long, long time. The line-out, perhaps the most impressive part of this side’s armoury for the past two seasons, creaked throughout. In all they lost three balls on their own throws, all of them in the first half, but there didn’t seem to be that smoothness we’ve come to expect from the whole operation. France, on the other hand, notched a perfect scorecard out of touch.
In other areas of the field, too, Ireland were out of sorts. Geordan Murphy had a nightmare of a game at full-back. Every time he got the ball in hand he appeared to choose the wrong option and for once, his handling let him down. He was far from an assured presence. That malaise appeared to spread across the rest of the backline at times, with Denis Hickie, and Kevin Maggs in particular, coughing up a few balls.
Indeed, the absence of both Shane Horgan and Gordon D’Arcy was more keenly felt than most had predicted. Maggs, bar one barging run in the first half, was rarely a threat and on two separate occasions he was penalised for holding on to the ball on the ground. He may have 68 caps to his name but yesterday, he looked out of his depth. But despite all this, it was France’s two tries within the space of six first-half minutes which ultimately decided the game. Before that, three O’Gara penalties and a Yann Delaigue penalty and Dimitri Yachvilli drop-goal left Ireland three points to the good, but a neat backline move on 31 minutes threw the game wide open.
Much had been made of Ireland’s outstanding drift defence in the defeat of England two weeks back but this time out, the system was caught cold. From a line-out on the left, Delaigue fed Yannick Jauzion who whipped a delicious pass to Julien Laharrague. With the Irish defence fanning-out wide, the French full-back fed the ball inside to Cedric Heymans and the winger released Christophe Dominici on his outside for a superb try. Looking back on it this morning, Hickie will realise that he should have done more to stop the French man crossing in the corner.
The Lansdowne Road crowd had barely got over that shock before France repeated the trick. In a way, the second French try was much like the first. Yannick Nyanga, the outstanding flanker, nicked an Irish throw and when the ball was fed to Benoit Baby, the Toulouse youngster ran a great line towards the Irish 22. Again, the Irish defence decided to drift, allowing Baby to run between Girvan Dempsey and Maggs for an unhindered route to the line. Yachvilli nailed the conversion to give France a nine-point half-time lead.
With the wind in their faces in the second half, Ireland’s task appeared difficult but they stuck to it well. The forwards got a little bit more of a grip on proceedings and the sheer need for points spurred Ireland’s performance. O’Gara and Yachvilli exchanged penalties on 49 and 63 minutes and then came the moment that looked to have swung the tide.
Inevitably, it came from O’Driscoll and of course, it was laced with class. The No 13 took the ball at inside centre and set off towards Frederic Michalak. Barely on the field three minutes, the mercurial Toulousian defended like a man in a slumber, allowing O’Driscoll to slip past him. There was still a lot of work to be done from that point but the Irish captain made it look easy, changing direction beautifully to round Heymans and touch down under the posts. O’Gara added the conversion and with two points between the sides and nine minutes still on the clock, Lansdowne Road started to believe, waiting expectantly for a drop-goal, a penalty, anything to edge Ireland in front.
All they got, though, was a French try, Serge Betsen wrestling the ball from Malcolm O’Kelly, with Dominici eventually going over untouched for his second try of the game. With that, Lansdowne Road didn’t believe any more.
France yesterday ended Ireland's dream of winning the Grand Slam - European Rugby's top title. The RBS Six Nations clash, which took place at Dublin's Lansdowne Road finished with the French team ahead on 26 points against Ireland's 19.

After a French dominated first half, Ireland had a glimmer of hope as Brian O'Driscoll managed to get a try almost from nothing mid-way through the second half, sadly for the homeside, it wasn't enough as France responded with a second try to take them to 26 ponits.