An historic evening under the floodlights at Musgrave Park as Ireland beat France for the first time in three attempts at this level. It matters not one whit that the first half was largely forgettable, or that they could never impose the latent talent behind the scrum, for victory against the Gallic visitors is a triumph to savour under any guise.
They did, however, find time to embellish their win with a magnificent injury-time try from Jeremy Staunton, who replaced Bryn Cunningham with seven minutes left. The Garryowen out-half displayed great balance and pace to rip through two tackles before crashing over for a glorious score.
Ireland demonstrated character, gritty determination and a tremendous resolve to be neither intimidated nor step backwards from confrontation. Occasionally the proceedings were marred by minor skirmishes, situations exacerbated by the exasperating refereeing of England's Chris Reeks.
Yet these are minor asides on a wonderful night for Irish rugby. Outscoring the French by two tries to none, Ireland produced a magnificent second half performance and were worthy of the disparity on the scoreboard.
Despite suffering severe pressure in the scrums, the pack proved far more adept than their counterparts in virtually every other facet of play. Blackrock College second row Robert Casey was a colossus. He provided an exhibition of lineout jumping, was assured under the high ball and still found time to put in several thunderous tackles.
This platform out of touch provided handsome dividends, not least in Ireland's two tries both of which came from a Casey catch and clever mauling by the pack. Marcus Horan, Leo Cullen, Paul Neville and Richard Woods were most conspicuous in the loose, but in truth every single forward contributed handsomely.
Peter Stringer and Bryn Cunningham were a little indecisive at half-back, especially in the first half, but they provided direction after the interval. The three-quarter line was afforded little opportunity to test the tackle, but there were cameo moments of excellence and none shirked their defensive duties.
Full back Geordan Murphy, quite apart from his placekicking, counterattacked with aplomb, always beating the first tackler and confirming his reputation as an elegant runner.
The French were terribly disjointed, lacking the traditional flair behind the scrum and relying too heavily on the sniping runs of excellent scrum-half Jerome Fillol.
Murphy provided Ireland with an ideal opening to the match, kicking a 22 metre penalty conceded by the visitors after O'Driscoll had produced a clattering tackle on Damien Traille. When the French backs were caught offside three minutes later, the Leicester full back posted a superb 40-metre penalty and posted a similar strike on 11 minutes for a 9-0 lead.
The French replied with a Fillol penalty before Murphy and the French scrum-half exchanged further penalties before the interval. Ireland took a firm grip on proceedings on 51 minutes. Casey won a lineout on the French line and the ball was smartly worked to the maul's openside for Horan to plunge over.
Murphy and O'Driscoll missed penalty opportunities to confirm Ireland's superiority and one could sense an anxiety creep in when Fillol posted his third penalty. Thereafter, though, Ireland began to express themselves.
Murphy made a superb break, Neville was inches from a try before Staunton's piece de resistance. Again Casey secured possession 10 metres from the French line, the pack trundled forward and when the Garryowen out-half received possession, a quick show of the ball, two elegant sidesteps and he crashed over the top of Blanco's despairing tackle. Murphy added the conversion from close to the touchline.
Scoring Sequence 2 mins: Murphy pen - 3-0 5 mins: Murphy pen - 6-0 11 mins: Murphy pen - 9-0 13 mins: Fillol pen - 9-3 25 mins: Murphy pen - 12-3 32 mins: Fillol pen - 12-6 Half-time: 12-6 51 mins: Horan try - 17-6 58 mins: Fillol pen - 17-9 80 mins: Staunton try, Murphy con - 24-9
Ireland: G Murphy (Leicester); D Quinlan (Blackrock), K Hartigan (Garryowen), B O'Driscoll (UCD), T Keating (Blackrock); B Cunningham (Bective Rangers), P Stringer (UCC); M Horan (Shannon), P Smyth (St Mary's), S Best (Newcastle); M O'Driscoll (UCC), R Casey (Blackrock); P Neville (Old Crescent), L Cullen (Blackrock, capt), R Woods (Dublin University). REPLACEMENTS: J Campbell (Terenure) for Best (57 mins); J Staunton (Garryowen) for Cunningham (73 mins).
France: D Skrela; C Heymans, D Traille, S Bonetti, S Kubzick, B Boyet; J Fillol, J Monmaille; A Gaubert, JB Poux, D Gerard, T Privat, G Robic, T Lasserre, S Chabal. Replacements: R Martin for Robic (52 mins); P Blanco for Monmaille (62 mins); P Bidade for Kubzick (65 mins).
Referee: C Reeks (England).
