Head-To-Head: Ireland v France

2011 GUINNESS SUMMER SERIES: Saturday, August 20

IRELAND v FRANCE, Aviva Stadium, 5pm (live RTÉ Two/BBC Two)

IRELAND: Felix Jones (Shannon/Munster); Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt), Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/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), Shane Jennings (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster).

Replacements: Jerry Flannery (Shannon/Munster), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht), Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Ronan O’Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College/Leinster).

FRANCE: Cédric Heymans (Toulouse); Maxime Médard (Toulouse), Aurélien Rougerie (Clermont Auvergne), Fabrice Estebanez (Racing Metro 92), Alexis Palisson (Toulon); David Skrela (Toulouse), Morgan Parra (Clermont Auvergne); Jean-Baptiste Poux (Toulouse), Dimitri Szarzewski (Stade Francais), Nicolas Mas (Perpignan), Pascal Papé (Stade Francais), Lionel Nallet (Racing Metro 92) (capt), Fulgence Ouedraogo (Montpellier), Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvergne), Louis Picamoles (Toulouse).

Replacements: Guilhem Guirado (Perpignan), Fabien Barcella (Biarritz Olympique), Julien Pierre (Clermont Auvergne), Thierry Dusautoir (Toulouse), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz Olympique), Francois Trinh-Duc (Montpellier), Vincent Clerc (Toulouse).

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Owens, Tim Hayes (both Wales)
Television Match Official: Iain Ramage (Scotland)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 88
Ireland Won – 29
France Won – 54
Drawn – 5

France have won ten of the last eleven 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 Since 2000:

Played – 15
Ireland Won – 4 (2000, 2001, 2003, 2009)
France Won – 11 (2002, 2003 RWC, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2007 RWC, 2008, 2010, 2011×2)

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)
Lost 25-22 v France home (Six Nations)
Won 21-18 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Lost 19-13 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Won 24-8 v England home (Six Nations)
Lost 10-6 v Scotland away (World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 19-12 v France away (World Cup Warm-Up)

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)
Won 25-22 v Ireland away (Six Nations)
Lost 17-9 v England away (Six Nations)
Lost 22-21 v Italy away (Six Nations)
Won 28-9 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Won 19-12 v Ireland home (World Cup Warm-Up)

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

112 Brian O’Driscoll
109 Ronan O’Gara
105 John Hayes
98 Peter Stringer
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
82 Girvan Dempsey
76 Paul O’Connell
73 Donncha O’Callaghan
72 David Humphreys
71 David Wallace
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
69 Geordan Murphy

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1018 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
235 Brian O’Driscoll
217 Ollie Campbell

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

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

France – Most-Capped Players:

118 Fabien Pelous
111 Philippe Sella
98 Raphael Ibanez
93 Serge Blanco
89 Olivier Magne
84 Sylvain Marconnet
83 Damien Traille
78 Abdelatif Benazzi
73 Yannick Jauzion
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
318 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
25 Vincent Clerc
23 Christian Darrouy
22 Aurélien Rougerie
20 Yannick Jauzion
20 Patrice Lagisquet

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1219 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1208 Jonny Wilkinson (1141-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1018 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
942 Stephen Jones (889-Wales, 53-Lions)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
786 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
56 Shane Williams (54-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)
45 Brian O’Driscoll (44-Ireland, 1-Lions)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
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 Brian O’Driscoll (112-Ireland, 6-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
111 Ronan O’Gara (109-Ireland, 2-Lions)
110 George Smith (Australia)
107 John Hayes (105-Ireland, 2-Lions)
106 Stephen Jones (100-Wales, 6-Lions)
106 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
105 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
105 John Smit (South Africa)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
102 Martyn Williams (98-Wales, 4-Lions)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
101 David Campese (Australia)