French flair can’t quite get them over the line
SUPER Saturday might have lacked a certain frisson in Llanelli and Rome earlier in the day but with everything on the line in Paris last night, there was no denying the drama and tension.
France poured on the style to beat Ireland, a victory which ensure England took the Six Nations Championship.
Both sides knew exactly what they had to do as they lined up for the anthems and this concluding game made a lively start full of action and controversy.
France needed to win by 30-plus points – and score a try bonus – and from the outset you sensed that they had dismissed that possibility and concentrated on another morale-boosting win.
Ireland, in effect, needed ‘only’ to win by six points to go ahead of England in that department. But after a useful start they never really threatened to pull that off although a late try by Jacob Stockdale gave the scoreline a more respectable gloss.
France were thoroughly deserving winners and will rue their away defeat in Edinburgh which prevented any thoughts of a Grand Slam this year.
Man of the moment Antoine Dupont crossed for a cracking try in the sixth minute which owed everything to the brilliance of Gael Fickou, operating on the left wing this week as opposed to centre.
Fickou, some 60 yards from the Ireland try line, trapped a loose ball with good footwork, made light work of prop Andrew Porter and then hit the turbos to outsprint the covering Conor Murray as he raced down the touchline before releasing his scrum-half with a timely inside pass.
Ireland responded strongly. Hugo Keen looked threatening chasing a clever Johnny Sexton chip which Anthony Bouthier illegally slapped into touch and received a yellow card for his troubles. Ireland pleaded for a penalty try but a score was by no means certain so the French escaped on that occasion. They weren’t so lucky on 18 minutes though when Ireland laid siege to the French line and Cian Healy – another pla yer making his 100th T est a ppearance yesterday – finished of f a period of concerted pressure by barrelling over for a nerve settling score.
A Sexton penalty fr om close range put Irish noses ahead but then we did have a bone fide penalty try on the half hour . Typicall y slick hands fr om F rance saw them a ttacking down the right but that seemed to be petering out when Stockdale made a mess of the kick through.
Flanker F rancois Cr os was in hot pursuit and would unquestionably have scored had he not been illegally taking out b y Caelen Doris. T his time W ayne Barnes didn’t need to consult with the TMO, it was a seven pointer although it did cost F rance dear with Cros, who jarred his ankle in the incident, limping of a few minutes later.
The tension was affecting both sides with neither wanting to cede any more ground although there was a fur ther exchange of penalties before the br eak. 17-13 and time to take stock.
Barely five minutes into the scond half and F rance struck a gain in glorious fashion with Dupont again heavily in volved. Ntmac k attacked from broken ball from a long wa y out and sent Fickou sprinting hard again.
This time Fickou kicked ahead and the ever-present
Dupont a ppeared fr om nowhere to seize the bouncing ball and thr ow a pass inside w here he kne w, instinctively, Ntamac k would be following. France are be ginning to pr oduce more and mor e of these champagne moments.
Ntamack couldn ’t add the conversion but France seemed in b usiness-like mode and Ntamac k soon stroked over another brace of penalties to extend the lead further and make Ireland’s task e ven mor e difficult.
Robbie Henshaw wasn’t giving up though and just before the hour he seized on bungled lineout possession to set off on a power-packed run on a wide ar c to bea t four or fi ve defenders to score in the cor ner which Sexton converted.
Suddenly they were trailing b y just eight and the ‘dream’ win was bac k on and F rance w ere looking jittery until Ntmac k pr oduced another moment of brilliance. T his time he chipped and c hased to put the thankful V irimi Vakatawa in f or a glorious try. The game was France’s, the title England’s.