France overcame the injury loss of Antoine Dupont to blow open the Six Nations title race by extinguishing Ireland’s grand slam dream with a crushing 42-27 win in Dublin.
Les Bleus captain Dupont – arguably the world's best player – limped from the field in the 29th minute of an engrossing showdown at a sold-out Aviva Stadium.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s early try helped the French into an 8-6 half-time lead before Dan Sheehan’s score shifted the momentum in Ireland's favour just after the restart.
But the hosts were blitzed during a breathtaking second half as Fabien Galthie’s side ruthlessly wrestled top spot in the championship table going into next week's final round.
Bielle-Biarrey, the tournament’s top try scorer, took his tally to seven with a sensational finish before Paul Boudehent, Oscar Jegou and the diving Damian Penaud completed the demolition job, adding to 17 points from full-back Thomas Ramos.
Late scores for Cian Healy and Jack Conan, plus two penalties and three conversions from Sam Prendergast, was scant consolation for Simon Easterby’s side, who slipped two points behind their opponents on the back of a shambolic second-half display.
Ireland suffered a significant setback before kick-off when James Lowe withdrew due to a back spasm to be replaced on the left wing by Calvin Nash.
Retiring centurions Peter O’Mahony, Healy and Conor Murray led out the teams to a deafening noise ahead of their final Test outings on home soil, closely followed by captain Caelan Doris, Finlay Bealham and Conan, who were each winning 50th caps.
Easterby’s men were determined not to be sidetracked by sentiment in a fixture, which has ultimately decided the destination of the title in the previous three years.
The hosts flew out of the blocks but were unable to make a dent on the scoreboard as Doris was held up on the line by Gregory Alldritt before Prendergast struck the posts with a penalty.
Following a series of early let-offs, momentum gradually began to shift in France’s favour.
Dupont was denied a breakaway try due to a knock-on before setting up Bielle-Biarrey to dot down wide on the left in the aftermath of Joe McCarthy being sin-binned for a cynical, off-the-ball tug on Ramos.
France’s talismanic skipper was then helped from the field following a challenge on Sheehan, a major blow intensified by replacement scrum-half Maxime Lucu being the only back on the visitors' bench due to Galthie’s bold decision to go with a seven-one split.
Ireland hit back to end an absorbing opening period just two points behind.
A 35th-minute Prendergast penalty finally opened the hosts’ account before he split the posts with a monster effort from halfway with the last kick of the half after Ramos slotted three points at the other end.
With the encounter finely poised, Ireland capitalised on a strong restart to lead for the first time when Sheehan launched himself into the right corner following a line-out maul.
Prendergast nailed the tricky conversion but the contest swiftly – and emphatically – swung back France’s way after flanker Boudehent benefited from some neat offloads to crash over.
Ireland were unhappy Thibaud Flament was not penalised for taking out O’Mahony off the ball in the build-up to the try, with the frustration of home fans heightened by Nash being yellow carded for head-on-head contact with Pierre-Louis Barassi.
The departure of centre Barassi for a head injury assessment left the French without any backs to bring on.
Yet it seemed to matter little. Flanker Jegou filled the void before the jet-heeled Bielle-Biarrey stylishly doubled his tally for the afternoon by racing on to his own kick to cap a breathtaking counter attack.
Ramos kicked another penalty to further delight the sizeable French contingent among the capacity crowd, before Jegou bulldozed over to add to Ireland’s misery.
The reigning champions enjoyed plenty of territory as they sought an unlikely way back into the match.
But, after Flament was sin-binned for illegally stifling the home team, France increased the embarrassment when Ramos, who nailed four of his conversion attempts, read a Prendergast pass on his own line and burst clear to unselfishly pop the ball to Penaud.
Healy and Conan each crossed in the closing stages to mark their respective milestone appearances.
But Ireland were powerless to prevent a first home defeat in the Six Nations since 2021, which leaves them needing France to slip up against Scotland when they travel to Italy next weekend.
PA
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