Head-To-Head: Ireland v France

2011 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Sunday, February 13

IRELAND v FRANCE, Aviva Stadium, 3pm (live RTÉ Two/BBC Two)

IRELAND: Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster); Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt), Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Keith Earls (Thomond/Munster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Donncha O’Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster), Sean O’Brien (Clontarf/Leinster), David Wallace (Garryowen/Munster), Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster).

Replacements: Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Leo Cullen (Blackrock College/Leinster), Denis Leamy (Cork Constitution/Munster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster).

FRANCE: Clement Poitrenaud (Toulouse); Yoann Huget (Bayonne), Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), Damien Traille (Biarritz Olympique), Maxime Medard (Toulouse); Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne); Thomas Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), William Servat (Toulouse), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Julien Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro 92), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse) (capt), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz Olympique).

Replacements: Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Sylvain Marconnet (Biarritz Olympique), Jerome Thion (Biarritz Olympique), Sebastien Chabal (Racing Metro 92), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz Olympique), Yannick Jauzion (Toulouse), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse).

Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant Referees: Wayne Barnes (England), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television Match Official: Geoff Warren (England)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 86
Ireland Won – 29
France Won – 52
Drawn – 5

France have won eight of the last nine meetings between the sides including victories at the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cups. Ireland’s win was at the start of their 2009 Grand Slam season.

The five draws so far were in 1950 (3-3 in Paris), 1965 (3-3 in Dublin), 1971 (9-9 in Dublin), 1979 (9-9 in Dublin) and
1985 (15-15 in Dublin).

Ireland v France: IRFU Stats Vault

Biggest Wins:

Ireland: Points: 30-21, 2009 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 Tries In A Match: Ireland 3 (Joe Quinn 1913, Brian O’Driscoll 2000); France 3 (Christian Darrouy 1963, David Venditti 1967, Vincent Clerc 2007)

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

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; 2010: France won 33-10

Ireland v France Since 2000:

Played – 13
France Won – 9 (2002, 2003 RWC, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2007 RWC, 2008, 2010)
Ireland Won – 4 (2000, 2001, 2003, 2009)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2010 Six Nations:

Won 29-11 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Lost 33-10 v France away (Six Nations)
Won 20-16 v England away (Six Nations)
Won 27-12 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Lost 23-20 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Lost 66-28 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 22-15 v Australia away (Summer Tour)
Lost 23-21 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Won 20-10 v Samoa home (Autumn Series)
Lost 38-18 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 29-9 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Won 13-11 v Italy away (Six Nations)

France – Form Guide From Start Of The 2010 Six Nations:

Won 18-9 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Won 33-10 v Ireland home (Six Nations)
Won 26-20 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Won 46-20 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Won 12-10 v England home (Six Nations)
Lost 42-17 v South Africa away (Summer Tour)
Lost 41-13 v Argentina away (Summer Tour)
Won 34-12 v Fiji home (Autumn Series)
Won 15-9 v Argentina home (Autumn Series)
Lost 59-16 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Won 34-21 v Scotland home (Six Nations)

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
532 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
530 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
456 Stephen Jones (Wales)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
372 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

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

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

108 Brian O’Driscoll
104 John Hayes
104 Ronan O’Gara
95 Peter Stringer
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
82 Girvan Dempsey
72 David Humphreys
71 Paul O’Connell
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
69 Geordan Murphy
68 Donncha O’Callaghan
67 David Wallace

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

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

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

42 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
21 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
16 Tommy Bowe
15 Kevin Maggs
15 Ronan O’Gara
15 George Stephenson

France – Most-Capped Players:

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

France – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

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

France – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

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

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1188 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1181 Jonny Wilkinson (1114-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
985 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
923 Stephen Jones (870-Wales, 53-Lions)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
752 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
53 Shane Williams (51-Wales, 2-Lions)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
46 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
43 Brian O’Driscoll (42-Ireland, 1-Lions)
41 Gareth Thomas (40-Wales, 1-Lions)
40 Chris Latham (Australia)

(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)
114 Brian O’Driscoll (108-Ireland, 6-Lions)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
110 George Smith (Australia)
106 Ronan O’Gara (104-Ireland, 2-Lions)
106 John Hayes (104-Ireland, 2-Lions)
105 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Stephen Jones (96-Wales, 6-Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
102 John Smit (South Africa)
102 Martyn Williams (98-Wales, 4-Lions)
101 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
101 David Campese (Australia)

– Official match data supplied by RBS 6 Nations