The verbal sparring between the French and the Irish before the match was up to the tension that accompanies a match that many already considered a final. When the captain of the Clover XV, James Ryan, counted “reduce the Stade de France to silence”his counterpart of the XV of France, Antoine Dupont, “wished him good luck”, not without a touch of irony.
After a spectacular match, it was finally the Blues who had the last word by winning (30-24), Saturday February 12 at the Stade de France. By winning their third consecutive victory against Ireland, Fabien Galthié’s proteges take another step towards a victory in the Tournament and a Grand Slam that has eluded them for more than 10 years.
Each one has its own sparks and less good shots. Except that in this little game, it is the French who win. The first touch, quickly played by the scrum half of the Blues said everything about the intentions of the XV of France: intensity, combat, speed. Inside during the victory against Italy, the Toulouse hinge Dupont-Ntamack wanted to redeem himself: it only took two short minutes for the best player in the world to remind everyone of his status and his cap as “Minister of interior” to plant the first try of the match on a service from its opener (7-0, 2nd).
As against Italy, the Blues were present in the fight, enough to shake up this Irish collective usually so well established. As proof, the latter, who had only conceded their first penalty in the 53rd minute against the Welsh, already had six at the half-hour mark (against three on the French side).
Fatigue, delay in actions, are always accompanied by their share of faults. Opportunities that Melvyn Jaminet did not miss to chastise. The rear of the Blues, in difficulty in the air at the start of the game, was almost perfect against the posts (7/8).
Beyond the individual performances of Blues who have succeeded “to increase their cursor“as they had hoped, the French collective was able to erase the many faults and the famous line offsides which had tarnished their copy against Italy. But like this lost dismissal in the 78th, this cap test planted by winger Mack Hansen (7th, 10-7) who put the Irish back in the game, the multiple forwards and the lost touches, everything was not perfect.
Nevertheless, these Blues have character. Quite a character. Picked cold on returning from the locker room by two Irish tries in five minutes (Van Der Flier, 45th and Gibson-Park, 50th, 22-21), the Habs, carried throughout the match by the charges of the tireless Grégory Alldritt , by Uini Atonio, Gabin Villière’s scrapings – which we have seen absolutely everywhere – have never let up. The pillar of the Blues, Cyril Baille, gave the head of his people at the location a powerful try (54th, 27-21).
In a tense end to the match where everything could still change, an Irish forward came to annihilate their last ball (30-24). A sign of fate? May be. In any case, thanks to him, the Blues – who offered themselves a lap of honor in a stadium where the boiling public played its part – are the only undefeated at the head of this Six Nations. They can still dream of the coronation after which they have been running since 2010.