Head-To-Head: Ireland v France

2014 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, March 15

FRANCE (3rd) v IRELAND (1st), Stade de France, 6pm local time/5pm Irish time (live RTÉ Two/BBC One/RTÉ Radio 1)

FRANCE: Brice Dulin (Castres Olympique); Yoann Huget (Stade Toulousain), Mathieu Bastareaud (RC Toulon), Gaël Fickou (Stade Toulousain), Maxime Medard (Stade Toulousain); Remi Talès (Castres Olympique), Maxime Machenaud (Racing Metro 92); Thomas Domingo (Clermont Auvergne), Dimitri Szarzewski (Racing Metro 92), Nicolas Mas (Montpellier), Pascal Papé (Stade Francais) (capt), Yoann Maestri (Stade Toulousain), Louis Picamoles (Stade Toulousain), Alexandre Lapandry (Clermont Auvergne), Damien Chouly (Clermont Auvergne).

Replacements: Guilhem Guirado (USA Perpignan), Vincent Debaty (Clermont Auvergne), Rabah Slimani (Stade Francais), Alexandre Flanquart (Stade Francais), Sebastien Vahaamahina (USA Perpignan), Wenceslas Lauret (Racing Metro 92), Jean-Marc Doussain (Stade Toulousain), Maxime Mermoz (RC Toulon).

IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster), Brian O’Driscoll (UCD/Leinster), Gordon D’Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Dave Kearney (Lansdowne/Leinster); Jonathan Sexton (Racing Metro 92), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster), Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster), Paul O’Connell (Young Munster/Munster) (capt), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Chris Henry (Malone/Ulster), Jamie Heaslip (Dublin University/Leinster).

Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Jack McGrath (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Martin Moore (Lansdowne/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Ian Madigan (Blackrock College/Leinster), Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster).

Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Television Match Official: Gareth Simmonds (Wales)

Head-To-Head:

Played – 91
France Won – 55
Ireland Won – 29
Drawn – 7

France have won eleven of the last 14 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 seven 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), 1985 (15-15 in Dublin), 2012 (17-17 in Paris) and 2013 (13-13 in Dublin).

Ireland v France: IRFU Stat Zone

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

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

Ireland v France Since 2000:

Played – 18
Ireland Won – 4 (2000, 2001, 2003, 2009)
France Won – 12 (2002, 2003 RWC, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2007 RWC, 2008, 2010, 2011×3)
Drawn – 2 (2012, 2013)

France – Form Guide From Start Of The 2013 Six Nations:

Lost 23-18 v Italy away (Six Nations)
Lost 16-6 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Lost 23-13 v England away (Six Nations)
Drew 13-13 v Ireland away (Six Nations)
Won 23-16 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Lost 23-13 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 30-0 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 24-9 v New Zealand away (Summer Tour)
Lost 26-19 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 38-18 v Tonga home (Autumn Series)
Lost 19-10 v South Africa home (Autumn Series)
Won 26-24 v England home (Six Nations)
Won 30-10 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Lost 27-6 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Won 19-17 v Scotland away (Six Nations)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2013 Six Nations:

Won 30-22 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Lost 12-6 v England home (Six Nations)
Lost 12-8 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Drew 13-13 v France home (Six Nations)
Lost 22-15 v Italy away (Six Nations)
Won 15-12 v USA away (Summer Tour)
Won 40-14 v Canada away (Summer Tour)
Won 40-9 v Samoa home (Autumn Series)
Lost 32-15 v Australia home (Autumn Series)
Lost 24-22 v New Zealand home (Autumn Series)
Won 28-6 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Won 26-3 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Lost 13-10 v England away (Six Nations)
Won 46-7 v Italy home (Six Nations)

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
557 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
546 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
467 Stephen Jones (Wales)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
403 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

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

Caps –
64 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
63 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
56 Mike Gibson (Ireland)
54 John Hayes (Ireland)
54 Jason Leonard (England)
53 Willie John McBride (Ireland)
53 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
53 Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
51 Martyn Williams (Wales)
50 Philippe Sella (France)
50 Rory Underwood (England)
50 Stephen Jones (Wales)

France – Most-Capped Players:

118 Fabien Pelous
111 Philippe Sella
98 Raphael Ibanez
93 Serge Blanco
89 Olivier Magne
86 Damien Traille
84 Sylvain Marconnet
82 Imanol Harinordoquy
78 Abdelatif Benazzi
78 Dimitri Szarzewski
76 Aurélien Rougerie
75 Julien Bonnaire
74 Lionel Nallet

France – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

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

France – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

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

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

132 Brian O’Driscoll
128 Ronan O’Gara
105 John Hayes
98 Peter Stringer
94 Donncha O’Callaghan
92 Malcolm O’Kelly
91 Paul O’Connell
82 Girvan Dempsey
78 Gordon D’Arcy
74 Rory Best
72 David Humphreys
72 David Wallace
72 Geordan Murphy
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

1083 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
350 Jonathan Sexton
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
245 Brian O’Driscoll
217 Ollie Campbell
158 Tom Kiernan

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

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

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1442 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1246 Jonny Wilkinson (1179-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1083 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
970 Stephen Jones (917-Wales, 53-Lions)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
809 Chris Paterson (Scotland)

World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:

64 David Campese (Australia)
60 Shane Williams (58-Wales, 2-Lions)
53 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
47 Brian O’Driscoll (46-Ireland, 1-Lions)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
46 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
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:

140 Brian O’Driscoll (132-Ireland, 8-Lions)
139 George Gregan (Australia)
130 Ronan O’Gara (128-Ireland, 2-Lions)
124 Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
116 Nathan Sharpe (Australia)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
111 John Smit (South Africa)
111 George Smith (Australia)
110 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
110 Stephen Jones (104-Wales, 6-Lions)
110 Keven Mealamu (New Zealand)
109 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
109 Gethin Jenkins (104-Wales, 5-Lions)
107 John Hayes (105-Ireland, 2-Lions)
107 Tony Woodcock (New Zealand)
105 Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
104 Martyn Williams (100-Wales, 4-Lions)
104 Sergio Parisse (Italy)
103 Marco Bortolami (Italy)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
103 Andrea Lo Cicero (Italy)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
100 Mils Muliaina (New Zealand)
100 Dan Carter (New Zealand)