British & Irish Lions
• British & Irish Lions tour Australia in 2013
Ireland Rugby
Ireland 22 – 25 France
Brian O’Driscoll is an angry man after seeing Ireland crash to a home defeat against Les Bleus. He has pretty much challenged his players that if they cannot deliver they should not be there.
France were outscored by three tries to one, and yet came out on top in the first game at the Aviva Stadium……
An explosive start saw Fitzgerald cross in the corner on the three minute mark, only for the final pass from D’Arcy to be judged forward. It took only two minutes to rectify this after Poitrenaut dropped the ball during a counter-attack from the French 22, McFadden in his second test grabbed the ball in the loose and reappeared after several phases to dive over the line – followed by a conversion from Sexton.
France fought back and with Ireland straying offside Parra landed his first penalty of the game.
France were narrowly let off the hook again as Ireland released McFadden into space only to find Sexton’s pass too weighted.
A cheer on 15 minutes was caused by France’s scrum collapsing after their impressive performance against Scotland a week earlier. It was an obvious statement of intent from Ireland and Sexton kicked to take Ireland 10-3 up, before Parra replied leaving it at 10-6.
Flourishes of brilliance in Ireland’s play were dogged by unforced errors again in scenes similar to Rome. Add this to a pinpoint accurate Parra as usual and they soon forced a third penalty which Parra scored.
O’Leary sent a chip straight to touch before O’Callaghan conceded a penalty for Parra to convert and take a 12-10 lead.
Ireland struck next through a move started and finished by O’Leary grabbing a try.
HT: Ireland 15 – 12 France
Ireland’s scrum continued to dominate, winning a free-kick and then shoving the French pack backwards, before Parra converted another penalty on 50 minutes to tie the scores at fifteen all.
In a game changing moment on 55 minutes, Rougerie broke through D’Arcy and drew in Fitzgerald to supply Medard with a scoring pass. Replacement scrum half Yachvilli (on for Parra) converted to put France 22-15 up.
Yachvilli grabbed another penalty to stretch the lead to 10 points, but Ireland were not giving up and were rewarded with a converted score from Heaslip with just 12 minutes left to play.
26 phases was all it took for O’Gara to break for David Wallace and send his back row colleague over in the corner, O’Gara’s conversion hit the post to setup a massive climax.
Earls nearly tore the stadium apart with 2 minutes to go, chipping ahead as Ireland descended on the ball, only for France to scramble a strong defence and deny them.
Last ditch attempts continue to no avail, it was a day won by the Champions.