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• What did the South Africans ever do for us?
Declan Kidney has announced a reduced 27-man squad for Ireland's opening game against France. IRELAND SQUAD (v France, 2009 RBS 6 Nations Championship, Croke Park, Saturday, February 7, kick-off 5pm): Backs: Tommy Bowe (Ospreys) Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College - Leinster) Gordon D'Arcy (
Declan Kidney is warning Ireland to expect a significant step up in class as they open their campaign against France. After a mixed autumn which saw the Irish beat Argentina but suffer a heavy defeat by the All Blacks, they'll need their wits about them for the opener. A dose of realism is req
Scorers: France: Tries: Melanie Gauffinet, Delphine Plantet, Caroline Ladagnous, Celine Allainmat; Cons: Estelle Sartini 3 Ireland: Tries: Germaine Healy, Jess Limbert; Cons: Grace Davitt 2; Pen: Niamh Briggs FRANCE: Caroline Ladagnous; Celine Allainmat, Sandrine Agricole, Jennifer Collombat, Ma
Ireland have it in spades, and as I said - maybe, just maybe the underdog role suits them that much better! What we witnessed in the second half, was nothing short of a remarkable comeback - something we've become good at with France! 26-6 down in the 50th minute we could have been buried, and
Vincent Clerc, who famously this week was dropped and came back in through other team injuries led the first half with a hat-trick of tries that Ireland couldn't compete with despite a massive fightback. Clerc proved himself to be possibly the best player in Europe. A bright start for the Irish w
Much the same as the senior squad, Ireland under 20's fell to three tries from France last night at the Stadium Jacques Fouroux. TIME LINE: 14 minutes - France try: Thierry Lacrampe - 5-0; conversion: Mathieu Belie - 7-0; 18 mins - Ireland try: Chris Cochrane - 7-5; conversion: Martin Dufficy - 7
With tails between legs after an unconvincing win over Italy and less than inspiring World Cup, Ireland must step into the Stade de France today and become the team they once were... Ireland's rugby sanity depends upon it... France looked superb last week against Scotland, with perfect manoeuvres
2008 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, February 9 FRANCE v IRELAND, Stade de France, 4pm Irish time/5pm local time (live RTÉ Two/BBC One) FRANCE: Cedric Heymans; Aurelien Rougerie, David Marty, Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc; David Skrela, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde; Nicolas Mas, Dimitri Szar
Vincent Clerc was surprisingly dropped to the replacements after his two tries against Scotland, but Malzieu's thigh injury allows Clerc to regain his place - Anthony Floch takes his place on the bench (worryingly Clerc has a good record against Ireland!). Rougerie starts on the right wing, and S
Eddie O'Sullivan is hoping to end the Paris drought this weekend, with just one win in Paris since 1972! The last win over the French was in 2000 when a hat-trick of tries by Brian O'Driscoll resulted in a 27-25 victory. The heat is definitely on after last weeks performance, O'Sullivan knows
