Ruthless Ireland begins Six Nations title defence by crushing France 38-17

The commentators called it “The Rugby World Cup final we all wanted to see” - that may or may not be true, depending on where it is in the world you call home.

Regardless of how you viewed the Six Nations opener, few would disagree with the notion that Ireland showed no signs of a relinquishing their Northern dominance as they dismantled a shell-shocked France 38-17 in Marseille.

France played the second half with 14-men after lock Paul Willemse’s clumsy red card late in the first period.

Ireland ran in five tries through scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park, lock Tadhg Beirne, right winger Calvin Nash on his tournament debut, hooker Dan Sheehan for the attacking bonus point, and his replacement Rónan Kelleher.

France’s tries came from star right winger Damian Penaud and returning lock Paul Gabrillagues.

Ireland’s first win against France in France since 2018 put it in control of the title race with three home games still to come.

Willemse was pinged twice in the first half for high tackles. The first card was for a shoulder hit on prop Andrew Porter’s face, earning a sin-bin. But a second similar hit on No. 8 Caelan Doris ended up as a straight red card after 32 minutes. France was already trailing 17-3 after scrumhalf Gibson-Park and Beirne grabbed converted tries.

France got a much-needed converted try from Penaud on the first-half buzzer to give Les Tricolores hope at 17-10 down. Bordeaux teammates Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert set him up to dive over for his 36th international try.

It took Ireland only seven minutes to restore the 14-point gap when center Robbie Henshaw expertly popped the ball up off the ground, Doris fed Nash in the left corner and Crowley nailed the extras from wide left.

Ireland hardly even missed flyhalf great Jonathan Sexton, who retired after the World Cup. Crowley got an early penalty and converted all five tries.

France, however, clearly struggled without star scrumhalf Antoine Dupont, who is trying to make the France sevens side for the Olympics.

Gabrillagues gave France a lifeline when he dived over for a converted try in the 52nd following an attacking lineout. At the same time, new Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony got a yellow card for bringing down the mall to even the numbers for 10 minutes.

It was Ireland which scored again, however, as Sheehan scampered over following a dominant attacking lineout. Kelleher did the same to complete the rout with moments left.

France travels to Scotland and Ireland hosts Italy next weekend.

HT: 10-17

FT: 17-38

- with AP