Ireland suffer dose of Les Blues as France crush Grand Slam dreams in Dublin

IRELAND'S Grand slam bid unravelled in spectacular fashion at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon as the shell-shocked home side suffered a crushing 42-27 defeat to new Six Nations favourites France.

And the convincing French win leaves Les Bleus in pole position to claim the Six Nations next weekend against Scotland in Paris. They are now two points clear of Ireland at the top of the table, with a huge points difference advantage to boot.

Ireland complete their programme of Six Nations fixtures away to Italy in Rome.

Five-try France, who opted for seven forwards among their eight replacements, roared 42-13 ahead of their hosts in the second half to put the game to bed. Two late Ireland tries put a more flattering look on the scoreboard from a home point of view.

This was a disappointing way for Conor Murray, Peter O'Mahony and Cian Healy to sign off in the green of Ireland at home in front of a sold-out attendance of 51,700.

The trio and the remainder of the Ireland squad must regroup for a trip to Rome next weekend.

Limerick winger Calvin Nash came into the Ireland team just before kick-off with James Lowe ruled after picking up a back injury in warm-up. Nash lined out on the right wing, with Jamie Osborne shifting across to the left.

Ireland grasped the initiative, enjoying an early sustained phase of possession and territory.

After Dupont was penalised for knocking the ball out of Gibson-Park's hand, Ireland opted for a kick to the corner, utilising their maul to make ground. France then drifted offside and were duly pinged.

Hooker Dan Sheehan opted for a tap-and-go and the home side came within a fraction of getting the ball down. However, Gregory Alldritt got underneath the ball and France had the drop out in a lively start.

Such was Ireland's pressure during that period that the official stats showed 38 French tackles there before Ireland made their first.

Ireland also came agonisingly close to opening the scoring on 10 minutes. However, Prendergast's penalty, just inside the halfway line, clipped off the left-hand post before being cleared.

Two minutes later, against the run of play, France looked to have opened the scoring following a breakaway, with Dupont touching down under the posts.

However, the score was chalked off for a knock-on earlier in the move. 

But France were not to be denied and the visitors did take the lead at the end of the first quarter.

With Ireland second-row Joe McCarthy in the sin-bin for pulling back Thomas Ramos off-the-ball, 

Romain Ntamack sent the resultant penalty to the corner. Dupont peeled off the back of the maul and the scrum-half found the flying Louise Bielle-Biarrey on the wing and he duly scampered over.

Thomas Ramos was off target with the conversion attempt. France suffered another blow just shy of the half hour mark when their talismanic scrum-half Dupont was forced off with an injury to be replaced by their only back replacement on the bench, Maxime Lucu.

Restored to 15 players with McCarthy's return to the game, Sam Prendergast brought Ireland to within two points after landing a 35th minute penalty.

However, France replied straight from the re-start as Ireland infringed and Ramos landed a penalty from the '22 for 8-3.

Ireland really needed to score next and this they did when Prendergast showed admirable composure to land an excellent penalty from the half-way line right on half-time after Guillard was penalised for drifting offside at a ruck.

Ireland trailed by two points, 6-8, at the break.

The home side made the start to the second half that they had craved when scoring their opening try. 

Ireland won a penalty deep inside the visitors '22 as France replacement Lucu drifted off-side. 

The home side opted for a kick to the corner. From a well-executed maul, the Ireland pack powered their way over the tryline with Dan Sheehan dotting down.

Prendergast nailed the difficult conversion and suddenly Ireland led 13-8.

However, the advantage was short-lived as Ireland were hit with a double blow. Firstly Calvin Nash was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on Pierre-Louis Barassi in the build-up.

After consulting with the TMO, on Flament's clear-out on O'Mahony in the lead-up, Boudehent'ts try was awarded the number eight touching down after a brilliant move, Lucu pinging an under-arm pass to the back-rower for the score.

Three minutes later and France were in again for their third try. Louis Bielle-Biarrey doted down for his second try of the game after beating his teammate Maxime Lucu in the race for his grubber kick. Ireland had coughed up possession after a powerful French counter-ruck.

Ramos converted for 22-13. 

The French were rampant now and Ramos slotted a 56th minute penalty to pish their lead out to 12 points at 25-13.

The one-way traffic continued when Oscar Jegou dotted down the bonus point try for France in the 58th minute as Ireland struggled in the face of the visitors' power game.

Ramos duly added the conversion to push the lead out to 19 points at 32-13.

The full-back then slotted a penalty goal.

To add salt into Irish wounds, as the home side pushed for a consolation try, France broke upfield and added a fifth try through Damian Penaud. 

Cian Healy, on his final home appearance in the green of Ireland, did bag a second try for Ireland in the 78th minute.

Prendergast's conversion left a sizeable 22 points between the sides. 

A late Jac Conan try, converted by Prendergast, put a flattering look on the scoreboard from an Irish point of view.

It's Italy up next in Rome for Ireland on Saturday.

SCORERS: Ireland: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Jack Conan try each, Sam Prendergast two pens, two cons. France: Louise Bielle-Biarrey two tries, Paul Boudehent, Oscar Jegou, Damian Penaud try each, Thomas Ramos three pens, four cons.

IRELAND: Hugo Keenan; Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Finlay Bealham; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Peter O'Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt). Replacements: Jack Conan for O'Mahony, Ryan Baird for O'Mahony (both 49 mins), Jack Crowley for Aki (55 mins), James Ryan for McCarthy (58 mins), Thomas Clarkson for Bealham (62 mins), Rob Herring for Sheehan, Cian Healy for Porter, Conor Murray for Gibson-Park (all 69 mins).

FRANCE: Thomas Ramos; Damian Penaud, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont (capt); Jean-Baptiste Gros, Peato Mauvaka, Uini Atonio; Mikael Guillard, Thibaud Flament; Francois Cros, Paul Boudehent, Gregory Alldritt. Replacements: Maxime Lucu for Dupont (29 mins), Oscar Jegou for Barassi (46 mins), Julien Marchand for Mauvaka, Cyril Baille for Gros, Dorian Aldegheri for Atonio, Emmanuel Meafou for Flament, Anthony Jelonch for Alldritt (all 48 mins).

REFEREE: Angus Gardner