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France vs Ireland
Guiness Six Nations 2024
Opening Match

Round One
Friday 2nd of February, 2024
Vélodrome Marseille
Kick Off 20:00 GMT

Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)
ARs: Matthew Carley (Eng) & Jordan Way (Aus)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wal)

TV Coverage ITV 1
Virgin Media (ROI)

Teams

France
T Ramos; D Penaud, G Fickou, J Danty, Y Moefana; M Jalibert, M Lucu; C Baille, P Mauvaka, U Atonio; P Gabrillagues, P Willemse; F Cros, C Ollivon, G Alldritt (capt).

Replacements: J Marchand, R Wardi, D Aldegheri, R Taofifenua, C Woki, P Boudehent, N Le Garrec, L Bielle-Biarrey.

Ireland
H Keenan; C Nash, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Lowe; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, T Beirne; P O'Mahony (capt), J van der Flier, C Doris.

Replacements: R Kelleher, C Healy, F Bealham, J Ryan, R Baird, J Conan, C Murray, C Frawley.

That's got to be the game!

France have to score next or that will be it ...

Heaf wrote:

Maine man wrote:Is Ben Whitehouse now a professional TMO?

Officially or in terms of competence?

He's certainly enjoying working with the French director...

Bonus point!!

Le Garrec has added a lot more tempo to France. Not done anything to calm them down but there's certainly more tenacity there now.

Taking lessons from England - kicking the ball away when in a good attacking position ...

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Heaf wrote:

Maine man wrote:Is Ben Whitehouse now a professional TMO?

Officially or in terms of competence?

He's certainly enjoying working with the French director...

He’s not known as Whitehouse down in Wales…

I suspect the name rhymes though?

A spanking for the French

Ireland look pretty impressive!

Don't know why the ITV commentator was classing that as a 'big call'.

Excellent win for Ireland. They would have got it without the red anyway. McCarthy was phenomenal.

France look like they've got a post World Cup hangover. No sharpness, no intensity, garbage defence.

Yep shame really - expected much more from this match ...

Fair play Ireland that's been a hell of a performance. The red was obviously a big turning point but I suspect Ireland would have won anyway - looked much the better team throughout. France a bit all over the place.

Yep, expected a close game.

Shouldn't be any problems for the title now for Ireland. Three home games to come, and the trip to Twickenham perhaps the only bump in the road, but on current form Ireland are a better team than England.

Well coached and well prepared. The provinces are tightknit and seem to have their houses in order, it’s all working for Ireland.

Very clinical from Ireland but France put then under minimal pressure.
Lucu had a poor game and a sad way for Willemse to end his international career. Can't see Galthie having the balls to pick him again.
McCarthy was immense, deserved MoM.
Actually think the change in the supporting coaching team hasn't clicked. New attack coach, attack almost non existent and a new forwards coach the defensive mauls were passive and innacurate, lineout very poor as well.
Pressure on Galthie for first time in 4 years

Ireland's lineout dominated as they never throw down the middle, the other sides will take note. Both sides scored some good tries with another cold red card in Irish favour which is a strange but definite trend. Thought Gibson Park was the best player with the control he offered although McCarthy clearly a prospect.
France never really got going which is down to Irish attention to the details around the ruck and set piece.
That Tuilagi isn't fit enough.

sensisball wrote:
Pressure on Galthie for first time in 4 years

Indeed - the French public won't be very sympathetic to perfofmances like that for very long.

The worst performance by a French team for quite some time.

Recwatcher16 wrote:Ireland's lineout dominated as they never throw down the middle,  the other sides will take note. Both sides scored some good tries with another cold red card in Irish favour which is a strange but definite trend. Thought Gibson Park was the best player with the control he offered although McCarthy clearly a prospect.
France never really got going which is down to Irish attention to the details around the ruck and set piece.
That Tuilagi isn't fit enough.

Strange way to say "congratulations Ireland. Well played"
Spose Ireland can't win without the reds can the Rec?

We'll never know will we? Strange comment.

Didn't see that coming, I thought France would be much better.  Good performance from Ireland but France were poor for most of the game.  I would have given player of the match to Bierne, but the Irish forwards were immense.  Crowley played well and I was pleasantly surprised by the replacement front row.

Willemse only has himself to blame.  Personally I thought both incidents were yellow and don't quite get the red upgrade for the second.

Onwards and upwards for a Grand Slam decider at Twickers

Mikey obviously hasn't been paying attention in the URC - Ulster really don't have their house in order, and that's from an Ulster supporter.

Solid Irish win. France really REALLY missed Dupont and Ntamack. They look like a totally different team without those two. Lucu has never really impressed me much for France and his replacement looked a lot better when he came on the pitch, did the simple things a lot better.

The pre match talk by pundits about Crawley somehow being a drop in quality from Sexon was daft. If anything, perhaps Crowley should have been bumped ahead of Sexton sooner? I'm not a fan of rugby players out staying their welcome based on their status within a team rather than their form.

Dunno I thought there was a couple of moments Crowley showed a lack of experience. Given his arm chair ride from the Irish forwards he will have been disappointed he didn't orchestrate Ireland killing the game off sooner.

Outside of the scrum Ireland were dominant. Deserved winners.

France will be fuming. They played badly. Willemse got himself sent off unnecessarily and really killed any chance of them maintaining the fightback. They lacked composure and didn't resource the breakdown quick enough. The halfbacks offered little to no control which is baffling if you've seen Bordeaux play. I suspect some tough questions will be asked back in camp. There's very little they can take away from that performance.

Unclear wrote:Mikey obviously hasn't been paying attention in the URC - Ulster really don't have their house in order, and that's from an Ulster supporter.

Ulster aren’t that bad. They’ve a lot of good local talent, but I think McFarland has been there too long and they need a fresh approach.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Willemse is a muppet. He knew he'd got away with one first time round and then the second one was just unnecessary. He's left his team with a mountain to climb.

Lucu is a classy 9 but he looks like a deer in the headlights. Looks like he could have done with an easier game to ease himself in. Looks like he needs a second more than Ireland are giving him.

Ireland are doing Ireland things. Defence is great they just need to be patient and go through the gears in attack.

Agree on all of this.

Lucu just seems like his first option in attack is to try and pass and then panic when he can’t. I thought during the WC he wasn’t enough to cover Dupont and I still think that. He just seems very flustered with the ball in hand.

Willemse was just daft. Be interesting to see what ban the cards amount to.

Anyway, fair play Ireland. I thought France being heavy favourites was slightly generous from the bookies, as Ireland are pretty relentless in the Six Nations and I did think Dupont would be a bigger loss than Sexton, as Crowley at least had insurance either side of him in Gibson Park and Aki. 13/8 or whatever other odds were available was always worth covering for an Ireland win.

Hard to see them being stopped at all now. Tricky game up for the French next too, so probably more pressure on, especially after Scotland’s probable win tomorrow.

Ah that was an impressive win alright, but it's maybe made the pain of the missed opportunity at the RWC even more so for me

Great win in the end. To score 38 points in France, some effort. They certainly missed Dupont.
Again McCartly, quality. Deserved mom.
Crowley I thought was very good overall. Those two touchline kicks were superb, got the scoreboard ticking over.
Hopefully he will go on and only get better. Questions asked about how he would do. Last night I think he passed the test.
Lowe and Aki were good again.
And a mention again for Keenan. This guy is a joy to watch. That tackle on Penaud, I think, driving him back a few metres, when a French try might have been on, was quality.
Under the high ball, there is nobody better. More chance of him dropping his wallet on the rugby pitch than then the ball.


Hats off to all that played last night.

Farrel to. Great coach.

Again what a win, in which was arguably our toughest fixture.
One game at a time, off to Italy now. Another tough game and no disrespect to them, but one we should see out.

The disappointment of the World Cup is behind us now.
Great response last night, let’s push on now for the rest of the tournament.
Hopefully another slam. Be very tough, what we will be aiming for.

Interesting/exciting weeks ahead.

RiscaGame wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Willemse is a muppet. He knew he'd got away with one first time round and then the second one was just unnecessary. He's left his team with a mountain to climb.

Lucu is a classy 9 but he looks like a deer in the headlights. Looks like he could have done with an easier game to ease himself in. Looks like he needs a second more than Ireland are giving him.

Ireland are doing Ireland things. Defence is great they just need to be patient and go through the gears in attack.

Agree on all of this.

Lucu just seems like his first option in attack is to try and pass and then panic when he can’t. I thought during the WC he wasn’t enough to cover Dupont and I still think that. He just seems very flustered with the ball in hand.

Willemse was just daft. Be interesting to see what ban the cards amount to.

At club level Lucu has looked very good and he's normally a safe pair of hands off the bench for France but that doesn't seem enough currently. Trying to replace Dupont is a miserable job mind, not just the best player in his position but arguably the best player in the game.

France have some options at 9 le Garrec who came off the bench or Janeau who's at Clermont (that kid is ridiculous). Would be a brave call to ditch the experienced back up for youngsters though.

France have to sort out the engine room though. The hooker wasn't great but their jumpers struggled Vs Ireland and in the loose the starting pair were anonymous and a card magnet.

Ireland were excellent and didn't miss whatshisname at all.
France in contrast were way off it, yes red made a difference and as did lack of Dupont but overall they were a long way off.

mikey_dragon wrote:Well coached and well prepared. The provinces are tightknit and seem to have their houses in order, it’s all working for Ireland.

Clearly you have not been following events in Ulster closely

We are a shambles

No Dupont no clue.
They were directionless without him.

Also their defence was very lose

Ireland did very well in the lineout.
Strange to say but scrum a slight worry.
Furlong needs to go on a Furlough - he looks knackered.
Bealham is out performing him these days.

Porters technique is poor and no one remotely good to take his place.
Healy has 20 mins top in him these days.

Well played by Ireland and a deserved win, but so weird that this was the first game and not the last. Hope all you Ireland fans enjoyed it.

Our u20 beat France last night too. Absolutely brilliant game

Ooooh la la. An absolute reaming. Well done Ireland.

Ominous AF for the rest of us poor saps.

At least Scotland doesn't have a trip to Dublin on the last day of the tournament this year. Oh. Wait.

Apparently that was the first time anyone has scored 5 tries v France in France in the six nations, nice feather for the cap of Ireland's attack coach.

Collapse2005 wrote:Apparently that was the first time anyone has scored 5 tries v France in France in the six nations, nice feather for the cap of Ireland's attack coach.

I was surprised at that stat. We all remember the tomkite period that France went through from about 2016 for a number of years. It's a feather that's nice to claim especially against the non-tomkite version of France.