Victory was down to the French ‘cavalerie’ sprung from the bench at the Aviva Stadium to take the game away from Ireland in ruthless and emphatic fashion. For all the post-match discourse about the injuries to Antoine Dupont and Pierre-Louis Barassi, origin and effect, it was head coach Fabien Galthié’s tactical masterstroke that commanded the most column inches.
First, though, there was no getting away from the Dupont injury, when cleared out at a ruck by Tadhg Beirne who had inadvertently been knocked off balance and into the contact by the arrival of Andrew Porter, one that referee Angus Gardner deemed a rugby incident, but had Galthié seething afterwards. The French coach said that they would cite both Irish players.
L’Equipe got former international referee Alexandre Ruiz to look at the incident and he deemed it worthy of a red card. “For me, it’s a red card. I see a closed shoulder on a very vulnerable player. Then, I see him [Beirne] finish the gesture on the lower part [of Dupont’s leg], there is clearly a twist. It is unfair play on a vulnerable player contesting a ball.”
L’Equipe ran another headline: “It sucks for Antoine”: the bitter joy of the Blues after the victory in Ireland marked by Dupont’s injury”.
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Le Parisien’s strapline didn’t put a tooth in where they thought culpability for the injury lay. “The captain of the Blues, injured in the right knee, left his teammates in the first half against Ireland due to a reprehensible act of unsportsmanlike conduct. If he still has to undergo tests to determine the precise severity of his injury, everything indicates that his season is over.”
Sud Oest proclaimed that two-try hero “Louis Bielle-Biarrey walks on water” in focusing on the exploits of the left wing, while Le Monde ran the headline, “Six Nations: France beat Ireland 42-27 to end Irish Grand Slam hopes”.
Elsewhere in the main match report in Sud Oest, the headline “Ireland – France (27–42). The bomb squad exploded and the Irish suffered” encapsulated the essence of the victory. Denis Kappes-Grangé wrote: “The injury exits of Dupont and Barassi forced the Blues to adapt. But thanks to the quality of the entries of Maxime Lucu and Oscar Jegou, in the centre, the system remained effective.
“It was a worst-case scenario, and it came true in Dublin. But while the French bomb squad did indeed explode on the pitch at the Aviva Stadium, the only victims recorded following the explosion were Irish.”
Leo Faure, writing in Midi Olympique spoke about the impact of the French replacements but in particular La Rochelle’s Oscar Jegou, who did a brilliant job filling in as a centre. “Let’s take the problems in order: first of all, if the “7-1” [split on the bench] brought all the gains hoped for despite an unfavourable scenario, it is because the Rochelais Oscar Jegou produced a four-star performance, in the centre of the pitch.
“Not only was his physical impact felt, as in this destructive tackle on the winger [Calvin] Nash, under pressure in the back of the pitch after a low kick that he himself had carried out. Or this other defensive intervention on Prendergast (64th minute), chasing on his outside and who made the ball explode from the grasp of the Irish fly-half on impact.
“The facts are first of all the score and the manner. When Galthié and his staff launched six forwards at once, in the 49th minute, the Blues were only leading by 2 points (15-13).
“The numerical result is clear: the French XV crushed Ireland during the last half hour, which ended, if we isolate it, with a significant gap (27-14). It is also the moment when the Blues got their hands on the ball again to speed up the game and finally take offensive initiatives. And everything happened in quick succession, with the collective speed of the Blues blowing Ireland away out wide.
In L’Equipe the headline read “The extraterrestrials were in blue: Dublin, a French victory for history and an exploit that will mark this generation” under which Renaud Bourel wrote: “First a request: a statue for François Cros! For his sacrificial first twenty minutes. For his entire body of work in fact: his 17 tackles (including 10 in 13 minutes), his health abandoned.
“And, come on, another one for Paul Boudehent, in his different style, just as impressive. Besides, we might as well make one for everyone. Or almost. And put them wherever you want: on the Marcoussis roundabout, Place de l'Étoile, Stanislas, or the Capitole, so that they remind those who stop in front of them why this sport can also be fabulous.”
