FRANCE FORCED TO FEND OFF A VALIANT IRELAND FIGHTBACK

FRANCE’S bid to win their first Six Nations title in a decade picked up further steam yesterday with a scrappy victory over injury-hit Ireland.

In what was Les Bleus’ first victory in Dublin in almost as long, a brilliant first-half team try finished by captain Charles Ollivon swung the game their way.

But they were nearly made to pay for not putting themselves out of sight when Andy Farrell’s men dragged their way to within a penalty of an unlikely comeback.

‘It was tough and we expected it to be tough, even though we could have made it easier for ourselves at one point, but the Irish fought until the end,’ said France head coach Fabien Galthie.

His team now join Wales at the top of the standings with two wins from two games, and next host Gregor Townsend’s Scotland in Paris on Sunday, February 28.

Ireland head coach Farrell said before kick-off that the slippery conditions were ‘beautiful, exactly what we want’ and a barrage of kicking and not a lot of passing certainly better suited his side.

But their early dominance only yielded a three-point lead.

There were some positive signs when Ireland had battled the odds a man down for the majority of the opening-day loss to Wales and their line-out work — a disaster in the autumn — was vastly improved again yesterday.

A Bernard Le Roux yellow card for a trip after 23 minutes gave the hosts a chance to make their pressure count, but while winger James Lowe was a trailing boot away from doing just that in the corner, it was the 14 men of France who scored the first try.

Just as they did in the explosive 50-10 win against Italy in their Six Nations opener in Rome, French backs and forwards alike offloaded brilliantly when they finally got ball in hand, culminating in Ollivon’s try — albeit Jamison Gibson-Park gifted him the opportunity by unnecessarily stepping in to tackle. France took control of the match as the Irish fell away and, with Antoine Dupont again pulling the strings superbly at nine, there looked only one outcome when Damian Penaud added a second try in the 55th minute. But an immediate, opportunistic reply from replacement hooker Ronan Kelleher helped drag Ireland back to within two points with 15 minutes to go as they eyed a famous comeback win without the injured trio of captain Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray and James Ryan. Their dream of making up for last weekend’s defeat to Wales was quashed, however, as France defended staunchly to secure victory. Irish stand-in skipper Iain Henderson cut a deflated figure afterwards, with his team’s Six Nations campaign in tatters after losing their opening two games for the first time since 1998. Their cause wasn’t helped by 16 handling errors and they are now consigned to playing for third place for a third straight year. Henderson said: ‘Massively frustrating. We had the opportunities to go and do it and when you’re not taking those opportunities, especially at home, then you’re not where you need to be. Head coach Farrell added: ‘That’s one that slipped away from us in the end.’