Head-To-Head: France v Ireland

2008 RBS 6 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, February 9

FRANCE v IRELAND, Stade de France, 4pm Irish time/5pm local time (live RTÉ Two/BBC One)

FRANCE: Cedric Heymans; Aurelien Rougerie, David Marty, Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc; David Skrela, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde; Nicolas Mas, Dimitri Szarzewski, Lionel Faure, Arnaud Mela, Lionel Nallet (capt), Fulgence Ouedraogo, Thierry Dusautoir, Julien Bonnaire.

Replacements: William Servat, Julien Brugnaut, Loic Jacquet, Louis Picamoles, Morgan Parra, Francois Trinh-Duc, Anthony Floch.

IRELAND: Girvan Dempsey; Geordan Murphy, Brian O’Driscoll (capt), Andrew Trimble, Robert Kearney; Ronan O’Gara, Eoin Reddan; Marcus Horan, Bernard Jackman, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Malcolm O’Kelly, Denis Leamy, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Rory Best, Tony Buckley, Mick O’Driscoll, Simon Easterby, Peter Stringer, Paddy Wallace, Shane Horgan.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch Judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television Match Official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (South Africa)

Head-to-Head:

Played – 83
France Won – 50
Ireland Won – 28
Drawn – 5

Biggest Wins:

France: Points: 45-10, 1996 Five Nations; Margin: 44-5, 2002 Six Nations

Ireland: Points: 27-25, 2000 Six Nations; Margin: 24-0, 1913 Five Nations

France v Ireland Since 2000:

Played – 10
France Won – 7 (2002, 2003 RWC, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2007 RWC)
Ireland Won – 3 (2000, 2001, 2003)

France have won the sides’ last six games. France led 43-3 in Paris in 2006 before finishing as 43-31 winners

International Championship All-Time Records:

Points –
443 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
406 Neil Jenkins (Wales)
406 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
294 Stephen Jones (Wales)
288 Gavin Hastings (Scotland)
278 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
270 David Humphreys (Ireland)

Tries –
24 Ian Smith (Scotland)
18 Cyril Lowe (England)
18 Rory Underwood (England)
18 Gareth Edwards (Wales)
17 Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)

France – Form Guide From Start Of The 2007 Six Nations:

Won 39-3 v Italy home (6N)
Won 20-17 v Ireland away (6N)
Won 32-21 v Wales home (6N)
Lost 26-18 v England away (6N)
Won 46-19 v Scotland home (6N)
Lost 42-11 v New Zealand away (Tour)
Lost 61-10 v New Zealand away (Tour)
Won 22-15 v England away (RWC Warm-Up)
Won 22-9 v England home (RWC Warm-Up)
Won 34-7 v Wales away (RWC Warm-Up)
Lost 17-12 v Argentina home (RWC)
Won 87-10 v Namibia home (RWC)
Won 25-3 v Ireland home (RWC)
Won 64-7 v Georgia home (RWC)
Won 20-18 v New Zealand neutral (RWC)
Lost 14-9 v England home (RWC)
Lost 34-10 v Argentina home (RWC)
Won 27-6 v Scotland away (6N)

Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2007 Six Nations:

Won 19-9 v Wales away (6N)
Lost 20-17 v France home (6N)
Won 43-13 v England home (6N)
Won 19-18 v Scotland away (6N)
Won 51-24 v Italy away (6N)
Lost 22-20 v Argentina away (Tour)
Lost 16-0 v Argentina away (Tour)
Lost 31-21 v Scotland away (RWC Warm-Up)
Won 23-20 v Italy home (RWC Warm-Up)
Won 32-17 v Namibia neutral (RWC)
Won 14-10 v Georgia neutral (RWC)
Lost 25-3 v France away (RWC)
Lost 30-15 v Argentina neutral (RWC)
Won 16-11 v Italy home (6N)

France – Most-Capped Players:

118 Fabien Pelous
111 Philippe Sella
98 Raphael Ibanez
93 Serge Blanco
89 Olivier Magne
78 Abdelatif Benazzi
71 Olivier Brouzet
71 Jean-Luc Sadourny
71 Sylvain Marconnet
71 Christian Califano

France – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

380 Christophe Lamaison
367 Thierry Lacroix
354 Didier Camberabero
267 Gerald Merceron
265 Jean-Pierre Romeu
247 Thomas Castaignede
246 Frederic Michalak
234 Dimitri Yachvili
200 Jean-Paul Lescarboura
199 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde

France – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

38 Serge Blanco
33 Philippe Saint-Andre
30 Philippe Sella
26 Emile Ntamack
26 Philippe Bernat-Salles
25 Christophe Dominici
23 Christian Darrouy

Ireland – Most-Capped Players:

90 Malcolm O’Kelly
80 Peter Stringer
80 Brian O’Driscoll
80 John Hayes
79 Girvan Dempsey
78 Ronan O’Gara
72 David Humphreys
70 Kevin Maggs
69 Mike Gibson
63 Willie John McBride
63 Simon Easterby
62 Anthony Foley
62 Denis Hickie

Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:

790 Ronan O’Gara
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
217 Ollie Campbell
167 Brian O’Driscoll

World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:

1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1043 Jonny Wilkinson (996-England, 47-Lions)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
873 Percy Montgomery (SA)
790 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)

Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:

31 Brian O’Driscoll
29 Denis Hickie
20 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
15 Keith Wood
15 Kevin Maggs
14 George Stephenson
14 Ronan O’Gara

Data supplied by SAS Software – the official data and competitive intelligence partner of the RBS 6 Nations championship