Head-To-Head: Ireland v France

2010 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, February 13

FRANCE v IRELAND, Stade de France, 5.30pm local time/4.30pm Irish time (live RTÉ Two/BBC One)

FRANCE: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Vincent Clerc (Toulouse), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Alexis Palisson (Brive); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne); Thomas Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Lionel Nallet (Racing-Metro), Pascal Pape (Stade Francais), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse) (capt), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz Olympique).

Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Sylvain Marconnet (Stade Francais), Julien Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), David Marty (Perpignan), Frederic Michalack (Toulouse), Julien Malzieu (Clermont Auvergne).

IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt), Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster); Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster), John Hayes (Bruff/Munster), Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster), Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster), Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster).

Replacements: Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster).

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television Match Official: Giulio de Santis (Italy)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 85 
France Won – 51 
Ireland Won – 29
Drawn – 5

Biggest Wins:

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

Ireland: Points: 30-21, 2009 Six Nations; Margin: 24-0, 1913 Five Nations

Individual Records In The Series:

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

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

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; 2009: Ireland won 30-21 

Ireland v France Since 2000:

Played – 12
France Won – 8 (2002, 2003 RWC, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2007 RWC, 2008)
Ireland Won – 4 (2000, 2001, 2003, 2009)

France won previous seven games before the sides’ 2009 encounter, 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 – 
515 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
494 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
389 Stephen Jones (Wales)
370 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
297 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

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

France – Form Guide From Start Of The 2009 Six Nations:

Lost 30-21 v Ireland away (6N) 
Won 22-13 v Scotland home (6N) 
Won 21-16 v Wales home (6N)
Lost 34-10 v England away (6N) 
Won 50-8 v Italy away (6N) 
Won 27-22 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 14-10 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 22-6 v Australia away (Summer Tour) 
Won 20-13 v South Africa home (Autumn Series) 
Won 43-5 v Samoa home (Autumn Series) 
Lost 39-12 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 18-9 v Scotland away (6N)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2009 Six Nations:

Won 30-21 v France home (6N)
Won 38-9 v Italy away (6N)
Won 14-13 v England home (6N)
Won 22-15 v Scotland away (6N)
Won 17-15 v Wales away (6N)
Won 25-6 v Canada away (Summer Tour)
Won 27-10 v USA away (Summer Tour)
Drew 20-20 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Won 41-6 v Fiji home (Autumn Series)
Won 15-10 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Won 29-11 v Italy home (6N)

France – Most-Capped Players: 

118 Fabien Pelous
111 Philippe Sella
98 Raphael Ibanez
93 Serge Blanco
89 Olivier Magne
79 Sylvain Marconnet
78 Abdelatif Benazzi
74 Damien Traille
71 Olivier Brouzet
71 Jean-Luc Sadourny
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
264 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
22 Vincent Clerc
21 Aurelien Rougerie
20 Patrice Lagisquet

Ireland – Most-Capped Players: 

98 John Hayes
97 Brian O’Driscoll
94 Ronan O’Gara
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
91 Peter Stringer
82 Girvan Dempsey
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
66 Marcus Horan
66 Paul O’Connell
65 Shane Horgan
65 Simon Easterby
63 Geordan Murphy
63 Willie John McBride

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers: 

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

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers: 

38 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
21 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
15 Keith Wood
15 Kevin Maggs
14 George Stephenson
14 Ronan O’Gara
12 Keith Crossan
11 Tommy Bowe
11 David Wallace
11 Simon Geoghegan
11 Alan Duggan

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1140 Jonny Wilkinson (1073-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
994 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
945 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
791 Stephen Jones (731-Wales, 53-Lions)
750 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
733 Gavin Hastings (667-Scotland, 66-Lions)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
50 Shane Williams (48-Wales, 2-Lions)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
45 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
41 Gareth Thomas (40-Wales, 1-Lions)
40 Chris Latham (Australia)
39 Brian O’Driscoll (38-Ireland, 1-Lions)
(Note: Daisuke Ohata scored 69 tries for Japan, but not all against major international opposition)

The ‘100 Caps’ Club:

139 George Gregan (Australia)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
110 George Smith (Australia)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
103 Brian O’Driscoll (97-Ireland, 6-Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy) 
100 John Hayes (98-Ireland, 2-Lions)

99 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
98 Raphael Ibanez (France)
96 Colin Charvis (94-Wales, 2-Lions)
96 Ronan O’Gara (94-Ireland, 2-Lions)
96 Martyn Williams (92-Wales, 4-Lions)