Head-To-Head: Ireland v France

2009 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, February 7

IRELAND v FRANCE, Croke Park, 5pm (live RTE Two/BBC One)

IRELAND: Robert Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Paddy Wallace, Luke Fitzgerald; Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary; Marcus Horan, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Rory Best, Tom Court, Malcolm O’Kelly, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Gordon D’Arcy, Geordan Murphy.

FRANCE: Clement Poitrenaud; Julien Malzieu, Florian Fritz, Yannick Jauzion, Maxime Medard; Lionel Beauxis, Sebastien Tillous-Borde; Lionel Faure, Dimitri Szarzewski, Benoit Lecouls, Sebastien Chabal, Lionel Nallet (capt), Thierry Dusautoir, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Imanol Harinordoquy.

Replacements: Benjamin Kayser, Nicolas Mas, Romain Millo-Chluski, Louis Picamoles, Morgan Parra, Benoit Baby, Cedric Heymans.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch Judges: Dave Pearson (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television Match Official: Giulio de Santis (Italy)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (South Africa)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 84 
Ireland Won – 28 
France Won – 51
Drawn – 5

Biggest Wins:

Ireland: Points: 27-25, 2000 Six Nations; Margin: 24-0, 1913 Five Nations

France: Points: 45-10, 1996 Five Nations; Margin: 44-5, 2002 Six Nations

Individual Records In The Series:

Most Points In A Match: Ireland 17 (Michael Kiernan 1989, Ronan O’Gara 2001 and 2007); France 26 (Thierry Lacroix (1995 RWC)

Most Tries In A Match: Ireland 3 (Joe Quinn 1913, Brian O’Driscoll 2000); France 3 (Christian Darrouy 1963, David Venditti 1967, Vincent Clerc 2007)

Ireland v France In The Six Nations:

2000: Ireland won 27-25; 2001: Ireland won 22-15; 2002: France won 44-5; 2003: Ireland won 15-12; 2004: France won 35-17; 2005: France won 26-19; 2006: France won 43-31; 2007: France won 20-17; 2008: France won 26-21

Ireland v France Since 2000:

Played – 11 
Ireland Won – 3 (2000, 2001, 2003) 
France Won – 8 (2002, 2003 RWC, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2007 RWC, 2008)

France have won the sides’ last seven games, including two Rugby World Cup fixtures. France led 43-3 in Paris in 2006 before finishing as 43-31 winners

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
479 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
443 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales) 
338 Stephen Jones (Wales) 
316 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

Tries –
24 Ian Smith (Scotland)
18 Cyril Lowe (England)
18 Rory Underwood (England)
18 Gareth Edwards (Wales)
17 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland) 

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Six Nations: 

Won 16-11 v Italy home (6N)
Lost 26-21 v France away (6N)
Won 34-13 v Scotland home (6N)
Lost 16-12 v Wales home (6N)
Lost 33-10 v England away (6N)
Lost 21-11 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 18-12 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Won 55-0 v Canada home (Autumn Series)
Lost 22-3 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 17-3 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)

France – Form Guide From Start Of The 2008 Six Nations: 

Won 27-6 v Scotland away (6N)
Won 26-21 v Ireland home (6N)
Lost 24-13 v England home (6N)
Won 25-13 v Italy home (6N)
Lost 29-12 v Wales away (6N)
Lost 34-13 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Lost 40-10 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Won 12-6 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Won 42-17 v Pacific Islanders home (Autumn Series)
Lost 18-13 v Australia home (Autumn Series)

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

91 Malcolm O’Kelly
89 John Hayes 
88 Brian O’Driscoll
87 Ronan O’Gara 
85 Peter Stringer 
82 Girvan Dempsey 
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
65 Simon Easterby 
64 Shane Horgan 
63 Willie John McBride

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers: 

863 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
217 Ollie Campbell
172 Brian O’Driscoll

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers: 

1099 Jonny Wilkinson (1032-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
879 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
863 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
733 Gavin Hastings (667-Scotland, 66-Lions)

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

32 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
20 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
15 Keith Wood
15 Kevin Maggs
14 George Stephenson
14 Ronan O’Gara

France – Most-Capped Players:

118 Fabien Pelous
111 Philippe Sella
98 Raphael Ibanez
93 Serge Blanco
89 Olivier Magne
78 Abdelatif Benazzi
71 Olivier Brouzet
71 Jean-Luc Sadourny
71 Sylvain Marconnet
71 Christian Califano

France – All-Time Leading Points Scorers: 

380 Christophe Lamaison
367 Thierry Lacroix
354 Didier Camberabero
267 Gerald Merceron
265 Jean-Pierre Romeu
258 Dimitri Yachvili
247 Thomas Castaignede
246 Frederic Michalak
233 Serge Blanco
214 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde
200 Jean-Paul Lescarboura

France – All-Time Leading Try Scorers: 

38 Serge Blanco
33 Philippe Saint-Andre
30 Philippe Sella
26 Emile Ntamack
26 Philippe Bernat-Salles
25 Christophe Dominici
23 Christian Darrouy
21 Aurelien Rougerie
20 Vincent Clerc
20 Patrice Lagisquet

Data supplied by SAS Software – the official data and competitive intelligence partner of the RBS 6 Nations Championship