A big game, and a big win. Any 10-point win over France is to be grasped with both hands. No Irish victory over the French comes easy and this was no different. To put it in context, this was Ireland's biggest win over France in the championship since the 25-6 victory in Lansdowne Road in 1975 and no one did more to grasp this game than Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton.
Sexton’s return was a huge boon, and demonstrated his vast reserves of competitiveness and mental strength as well as talent, not least as he cannot have been anywhere near 100 per cent right. As if to prove a point, with one of his first touches he ran hard at a blue line of defenders, which were never less than imposing.
In his 69 minutes on the pitch, Sexton, typically,never shirked the physical stuff. He carried seven times for 58 metres and made nine tackles, as well as marshalling the game expertly in tandem with Murray when adapting to the worsening conditions of the second half; bombarding Scott Spedding in the air and landing a trio of three-pointers in nine match-defining minutes, including a thumping 40-metre drop goal on the run.
The two halves even combined with Simon Zebo in the counterattack of the match, which instigated an 18-phase attack with 14 men as Sexton received treatment for a late hit by his former Racing teammate Eddy Ben Arous. He’s used to such roughhouse tactics against the French. In the last six years or so, losing that historical fear of the French has been almost seismic, and having lived and played behind enemy lines for two years, no one typifies this more than Sexton.
It was good to see him back.
Better coached
In the final analysis, the better-coached team won. Collectively, they were also mentally stronger, more sure in what they were doing and more disciplined; ultimately wearing France down and out, forcing them to make almost twice as many tackles.
The French stuck to their task, completing 212 of their 229 tackles – a return of 93 per cent. Ireland completed 120 of their 134 tackles, but it was a measure of France’s threat off much less possession that they made as many line breaks, eight, as did Ireland.
No less than Scotland, France began the better. But for the faintest of nudges by Gael Fickou when picking up and feeding Rémi Lamerat, Les bleus would have gone 10-0 ahead. And they'd have deserved it too. They were using the full width of the pitch, venturing to the five metre channels on both flanks.
Louis Picamoles switched and offloaded to Fickou on the left. Camille Lopez cross-kicked to Lamerat on the right and Yoann Huget to the left. In a rare blemish, Garry Ringrose slipped out of a tackle on Fickou. Closer in – helped by Devin Toner being held at the back of the ruck – the quicksilver Baptiste Serin dummied and broke inside Jamie Heaslip and sidestepped Rob Kearney before the Irish number eight made a recovering tackle on Serin and conceded three points when it could have been seven.
To Schmidt’s huge frustration, the Irish scrum was twice penalised, when he clearly felt it was France scrummaging illegally, but even despite this Ireland’s discipline was, as in November, was again critical; France losing the penalty count 14-8. And apart from maybe one of those penalties, France could have few quibbles with Nigel Owens, who was excellent.
The same applied to the Irish lineout, with a return of 22 from 22 throws, but their maul got relatively little change from Sébastien Vahaamahina (it was a relief to see him replaced prematurely), Yoann Maestri, Picamoles and co.
Discovery
As with Serin, until he and Lopez’s influence ebbed when starved of ball,
Kevin Gourdon
again looked a real discovery with his lines of running and pace, but alongside him Bernard le Roux typified France’s greater difficulty with the soggy pill, knocking on three times.
In a variation from one-off runners – Schmidt contends Ireland are fourth statistically in the Six Nations in employing the tactic – instead of trucking it up, the forward recipient moved it on to a second forward, who often swivelled and transferred out the back to Sexton. Another ploy was to work the ball to Garry Ringrose, who carried 15 times, and looked the one Irish player capable of beating a man and finding space. Yet the blue defensive line looked comfortable for almost half-an-hour.
However, unlike in Murrayfield, the Irish team didn’t wait until half-time to regroup and assess what they needed to do differently. Rather, thanks in the main to Murray and Sexton, they grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck.
Nearing the half-hour mark, Sexton used off-the-top ball 40 metres out for Robbie Henshaw and Ringrose to fix the defence and the outhalf sped on to Ringrose's beautifully delayed and disguised pass to sprint into space. The Sexton wraparound. Much derided, but hard to defend when executed like this. Even his chip on the run for Keith Earls to chase was perfection and earned a five-metre scrum.
Critical to the ensuing try by Murray, his 10th in 56 caps and seventh in his last 16 tests, was another superb carry by Henshaw and the kind of clearout by Ringrose and Seán O’Brien that helps Schmidt sleep better at night, as well as Murray’s strength and opportunism. But watch also Jamie Heaslip tugging Serin out of Murray’s path to the line.
Understated performance
Heaslip had another of his understated, selfless and mightily effective performances. Using pure strength and will, CJ Stander, typically, had a phenomenal haul of 23 carries for 39 metres, while Heaslip, using a little more footwork, had 17 carries for 33 metres and, what’s more, led the Irish tackle count with 15.
Their influence, along with Murray and Sexton, grew more pronounced but, for once, the CJ Stander (man of the match) award went to Murray.
Aside from executing all his basics without error and his try, no one kicked more or more tellingly in the match. And the variety of those 10 kicks, whether taking to the air, arrowing a 40-metre grubber into touch or delicately kicking to inches of the corner flag, was well-nigh perfect.
Right now you wouldn’t swap him for any other scrumhalf in the world, Nor, come to think of it, when Sexton is fit and well alongside him, would you exchange the fella alongside him either.
Scoring sequence: 12 mins Lopez pen 0-3; 19 mins Lopez pen 0-6; 30 mins Murray try, Sexton con 7-6; (half-time 7-6); 46 mins Sexton pen 10-6; 50 mins Sexton drop goal 13-6; 55 mins Sexton pen 16-6; 74 mins Lopez pen 16-9; 74 mins Jackson pen 19-9.
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster); Johnny Sexton (St Mary’s College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster, capt), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster), Sean O’Brien (UCD/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster) Replacements: Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster) for Kearney (51 mins), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) for McGrath, Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster) for D Ryan (61 mins), Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) for Best, John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) for Furlong, Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster) for O’Brien (all 68 mins), Paddy Jackson (Dungannon/Ulster) for Sexton (69 mins), Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) for Murray (78 mins).
FRANCE: Scott Spedding (Clermont Auvergne); Yoann Huget (Toulouse), Rémi Lamerat (Clermont Auvergne), Gael Fickou (Toulouse), Noa Nakaitaci (Clermont Auvergne); Camille Lopez (Clermont Auvergne), Baptiste Serin (Bordeaux-Begles); Cyril Baille (Toulouse), Guilhem Guirado (Toulon, capt), Rabah Slimani (Stade Francais), Sébastien Vahaamahina (Clermont Auvergne), Yoann Maestri (Toulouse), Bernard le Roux (Racing 92), Kevin Gourdon (La Rochelle), Louis Picamoles (Northampton). Replacements: Uini Atonio (La Rochelle) for Slimani, Eddy Ben Arous (Racing 92) for Baille, Julien Devedec (Brive) for Vahaamahina (all 51 mins), Charles Ollivon (Toulon) for le Roux, Henry Chavancy (Racing 92) for Lamerat (both 60 mins), Christopher Tolofua (Toulouse) for Guirado, Maxime Machenaud (Racing 92) for Serin (62 mins), Djibril Camara (Stade Francais) for Spedding (74 mins). Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales).
