France vs Ireland match report: Maxime Medard breaks Irish hearts in Paris to dent champions' hopes of retaining title

France 10 Ireland 9

Maxime Medard celebrates scoring the match-winning try for France against Ireland (Getty Images)

French flair was replaced by Gallic grunt as Guy Novès’s new regime continued their winning start to the Six Nations, where they used the scrum to outmuscle Ireland and scupper their title defence.

One-point defeats are tough to swallow, harder still when you lose a key player like Sean O’Brien to injury after 20 minutes, but where Ireland were left really sore was at the alleged inaction of referee Jaco Peyper. Joe Schmidt, the Ireland coach, kept his post-match comments about the South African official in check, but he was clearly aggravated by a late hit on Johnny Sexton, a dangerous tackle that forced Dave Kearney out of the game and the refereeing of the scrum contest.

Then there was the matter of blowing up play early for an apparent knock-on when Kearney looked set to score in the early exchanges.

“Those things aren’t for me to say,” Schmidt replied when asked if he thought Peyper’s performance had been balanced. “That’s for the referee to look back at, certainly I’d encourage the referee organiser to look back. We had very clear indications coming into the Six Nations about what would be tolerated and what wouldn’t be.”

Yoann Maestri, the French second-row, now faces an anxious wait to see if he will be cited for raising his elbow into Sexton after the Irish fly-half had played the ball in the first quarter. Ireland captain Rory Best explained that Peyper only awarded a penalty and nothing further after a brief communication with the television match official (TMO).

Maxime Medard scored the only try of the match (Getty Images)

Sexton left the game holding his neck just before France scored the game’s only try on 70 minutes, but Schmidt was not surprised at the treatment that the French dished out. “Johnny knows what he’s going to get when he comes here, and he’s prepared for that, but he was pretty knocked around by the end of the game,” he added.

The result effectively ends Ireland’s hopes of retaining the championship while France have a platform to win their first title since 2011.

In a soggy Saint-Denis, the first half of this contest was predictably laborious given the conditions, but three penalties by Sexton and one from Jules Plisson, the French out-half, allowed Ireland to lead at the break thanks to their superior discipline and parity at the scrum.

By that stage Ireland had lost O’Brien and Kearney, who tried to stay on after a vicious high tackle from Guilhem Guirado, the French captain, which left the Irish wing with an AC joint injury in his shoulder. Both O’Brien and Kearney have been ruled out of Ireland’s trip to Twickenham in two weeks’ time.

Ireland's Nathan White and Jared Payne challenge Teddy Thomas of France in the air (Getty Images)

The momentum swung after the break, however, and the introduction of French props Rabah Slimani and Eddy Ben Arous sent the Irish scrum into meltdown. In addition, France’s growing physicality at the breakdown saw Ireland concede seven penalties before the hosts seized control.

Schmidt’s prescience regarding the dangers of loose kicking to the French back three played out in the cruellest fashion. Rob Kearney gave away possession cheaply with a loose kick on the hour mark and although it took France 10 minutes, the hosts turned it into the game’s most valuable score.

Ireland’s initial efforts to repel the hosts saw them briefly regain the ball, but Fergus McFadden was hurried into kicking it straight down the throat of Les Bleus’ back-field.

Soon they were haring into the Irish 22 and only Andrew Trimble’s effort to defuse the piercing attack stopped an immediate breach of the line. It mattered little because France had the penalty advantage and instead of taking the points, Plisson stuck the ball into the corner. “The decision to kick to touch at 9-3 allowed the players to feel that they had taken mental and physical control over Ireland,” Novès reflected.

First the French maul closed in on the whitewash before cannonball carries from Virimi Vakatawa and Jonathan Danty laid a platform for Damien Chouly to be herded over under the posts by a horde of blue shirts. The back-row was denied by the TMO, who could not find clear evidence of the ball being grounded, but the resulting scrum saw Ireland penalised three times in succession.

With La Marseillais crashing from the stands and France pummelling the Irish pack into submission, a penalty try seemed inevitable, but as soon as a playable ball became available Maxime Médard managed to skate inside Robbie Henshaw to cross over for the killer score.

Plisson’s conversion was routine, but then Ian Madigan, on for Sexton, fluffed the restart and as the ball few straight out of play, so too did Ireland’s hopes of winning a record third championship in a row.

Teams

France: M Médard (Toulouse); T Thomas (Racing; H Bonneval, Stade Français, 44), M Mermoz (Toulon), J Danty (Stade Français; JM Doussain, Toulouse, 76), V Vakatawa (French Rugby Federation); J Plisson (Stade Français), S Bézy (Toulouse; M Machenaud, Racing, 56); J Poirot (Bordeaux-Begles; R Slimani, Stade Français, 44, Poirot, 73), Guilhem Guirado (capt, Toulon; C Chat, Racing, 47-57, 73), U Atonio (La Rochelle; E Ben Arous, Racing, 44), A Flanquart (Stade Français), Y Maestri (Toulouse; P Jedrasiak, Clermont, 58), W Lauret (Racing), Y Camara (Toulouse; L Goujon, Bordeaux-Begles, 67), D Chouly (Clermont).

Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); A Trimble (Ulster), J Payne (Ulster), R Henshaw (Connacht), D Kearney (Leinster); J Sexton (Leinster; I Madigan, Leinster, 69), C Murray (Munster); J McGrath (Leinster; J Cronin, Munster, 73), R Best (capt, Ulster; R Strauss, Leinster, 71), N White (Connacht; T Furlong, Leinster, 62), M McCarthy (Leinster; D Ryan, Munster, 40), D Toner (Leinster), CJ Stander (Munster), S O’Brien (Leinster; T O’Donnell, Munster, 20), J Heaslip (Leinster).

Referee: J Peyper (South Africa).