Ireland Rue Missed Chances As Fluent France Come Out On Top

France provided the second-half fireworks as Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations title hopes were extinguished by a frustrating 35-27 defeat at the Stade de France.

Prop Cian Healy’s 18th-minute try, on his 100th appearance, had Andy Farrell’s men right in contention with just a 17-13 half-time deficit to overcome.

However, Ireland’s challenge unravelled after the break as France proved superior thanks to their powerful pack and the counter-attacking class of their backs.

Robbie Henshaw’s scintillating solo try kept his side in the hunt at 28-20, but a 70th-minute score from Virimi Vakatawa slammed the door shut.

Half-backs Romain Ntamack and Antoine Dupont were hugely influential for les Bleus, with the former – still just 21 – scoring 18 points, including a try, and supplying the assist for Vakatawa’s clincher.

Courtesy of their 34-5 bonus point win in Rome, England ended Halloween night as Six Nations champions, trumping France on scoring difference with both teams registering four victories and 18 points overall.

Giving his reaction afterwards, Ireland head coach Farrell said: “I think there were enough opportunities there for us to win two games. We certainly weren’t clinical enough with the opportunities that we had.

“If you don’t take your chances in big games like this, then you come unstuck eventually. It’s an obvious thing to say, but we had enough entries into the French 22 and didn’t come away with the points. It’s as simple as that really.

“At half-time, the chat was about belief. It was a little bit off and obviously the score just after half-time wasn’t great. We killed our own momentum at times and then that sucked the fluidity of things. The errors that we made were across the board, it wasn’t just one area.

“I suppose being clinical in the last third of the pitch was the main point. I honestly thought at half-time we were 80% in and didn’t quite 100% go at it fully and believe.

“That’s what I’m saying about having opportunities close to the line. Not quite getting there with our rucking, with our collision work.

“I thought it was okay at times, but you’ve got to make your own luck in big games like this against big guys like that. I thought we didn’t 100% go for it as far as the accuracy and the physicality, etc.

“I thought we could have come away with more points in that first half. At half-time you try and correct a few things, give a bit of belief and obviously they scored the try. There were quite a few big moments within that game.

“At 28-20, we had a lineout on their line and again we came away with nothing. From set pieces a couple of times, we spilled a few balls. Missed touch twice, etc.

“There was an array of things, whether it be consciously or subconsciously, it saps you a little bit and you feed energy to the opposition.”

Ireland had their destiny in their own hands in Paris, with England’s result meaning that a bonus point win over the French, a winning margin of six points with one try scored, or a winning margin of seven points would all be enough to secure the title.

Conor Murray narrowly missed a 57-metre penalty inside the opening minutes, while Caelan Doris laid down an early marker with a well-won turnover and the Irish scrum got off to a rock-solid start.

But France were first on the scoreboard, Vincent Rattez’s leap to keep a Dupont box-kick in play proving vital. They moved the ball wide to the opposite wing where Gael Fickou burned past Andrew Porter and Murray and passed inside to Dupont for a slicky-crafted sixth-minute try.

Ntamack topped it off with the conversion, although Ireland soon had the home defence under pressure. A kinder bounce could have seen Hugo Keenan score from captain Jonathan Sexton’s stabbed kick towards the left corner.

Instead, the ball bounced up off the newly-capped winger’s hand and French full-back Anthony Bouthier batted it straight out of play, earning himself a yellow card. The penalty try was ruled out as Fickou was covering across.

Ireland forced further penalties out of the French defence, as locks James Ryan and Tadhg Beirne grew in influence. Their patience was rewarded when Healy muscled over just to the right of the posts, with Porter and Ryan on the latch.

Sexton converted the Clontarf man’s sixth international try, levelling matters just before Bouthier’s return. With Henshaw and Bundee Aki getting their hands on the ball more, a French offside allowed Sexton to make it 10-7 in the 25th minute.

However, the momentum swung back behind France approaching the half hour mark. After Healy departed for a HIA, France got their offloading game going despite the greasy ball, and a helter-skelter passage of play culminated in a penalty try.

Jacob Stockdale was unable to gather a Rattez kick on the ground, allowing the inrushing Francois Cros to hack through towards the Irish try-line. His opposite number Doris instinctively tackled him without the ball, earning a yellow card and handing France seven points.

14-man Ireland dug in during the sin-bin period, carrying well through Henshaw, Beirne and Ryan, in particular, to set up Sexton’s second successful penalty from close range.

A dominant French scrum and some more sharp offloading preceded an Ntamack three-pointer, and the hosts landed a further psychological blow – Ireland turned down a kickable penalty but a late spell of forward pressure failed to result in a try.

Toulouse star Ntamack took centre stage during the early stages of the second half. He scored 11 points in as many minutes, flooding forward from a kick return as he combined with Fickou and Dupont on a breathtaking 65-metre break.

A determined Dupont was first to Fickou’s kick ahead and the scrum half’s offload back inside evaded the clutches of Doris, allowing Ntamack to swoop in and ground the ball for a crucial unconverted try.

With French tails up, 22-13 suddenly became 28-13 as a couple of tight breakdown calls went against Ireland. Ntamack nailed both kicks, one from the visitors’ 10-metre line, as tireless player-of-the-match Gregory Alldritt made his mark from ruck to ruck.

Ireland lost a vital lineout as France fended off their first attempts to hit back, and Keenan needed to react quickly to cover a dangerous kick through from Arthur Vincent after a midfield mix-up between replacement Chris Farrell and Stockdale.

Beirne’s hard-won penalty at the coalface launched Ireland forward again, and although the lineout was scrappy, Henshaw soon made it count.

The Athlone native tore through a gap, past Jean-Baptiste Gros and Paul Willemse, and bounced off Rattez’s attempted tackle before taking Dupont with him over the whitewash.

Sexton coolly added the extras to the centre’s inspirational effort, which left them with a manageable eight points to eat up. Just like that, Ireland looked back in business with the aim of two more tries to be crowned champions.

CJ Stander enjoyed a stellar few minutes when winning a couple of breakdown penalties, as well as deftly keeping a French touchfinder in play. Yet, a couple of lost lineouts dented Ireland’s progress and lost them important possession and territory.

Stockdale was unfortunate to lose the ball forward after fending off both Vakatawa and Rattez, and France found the killer blow in response.

Number 8 Alldritt carried hard, Ntamack deftly left-footed over the top, regathered and broke past Stockdale’s outstretched tackle before laying off for Vakatawa to finish behind the posts.

Ntamack’s conversion capped off his handsome haul of 18 points as Fabien Galthie’s young team gained France’s best Championship finish since 2011.

Ireland, who claimed third spot, consoled themselves with a well-taken last-minute try from Stockdale, who spun away from a couple of defenders after Keenan’s pass out of a tackle.

Converted by Ross Byrne, it was the Ulster ace’s 17th score in 30 Tests. He will hope to add to that tally during the inaugural Autumn Nations Cup, which begins for Ireland with a November 13 home clash with Wales.