Jonathan Sexton was the match winner once again for Joe Schmidt’s men, slotting five successful penalties from as many attempts as Ireland earned back-to-back victories over France for the first time since 2000-2001.
Four pinpoint strikes from the returning Jonathan Sexton, who was back at out-half after his 12-week concussion lay-off, established a 12-6 lead for Ireland at half-time.
Try-scoring chances were few and far between for both sides and a clash of heads between Sexton and bustling France centre Mathieu Bastareaud, early in the second half, forced both players off for a short spell. In Sexton’s absence, replacement Ian Madigan coolly landed a penalty.
Following French lock Pascal Papé’s yellow card for kneeing Jamie Heaslip in the back, Ireland’s best try-scoring opportunity was lost when Sexton’s short pass was too strong for Jared Payne with Rob Kearney and Simon Zebo lurking out wide.
Rory Best was then sin-binned for sticking a leg out at a ruck, however the usually reliable Camille Lopez missed the penalty and Sexton followed up with his best kick of the night as he punished Damien Chouly for a lineout infringement.
Trailing 18-6, France lifted their game on the back of Morgan Parra’s introduction and the carrying of their bulky forward replacements, including Romain Taofifenua who finished off an overlap in the 71st minute for the game’s only try.
Lopez sent the conversion wide from the left and with the fit-again Cian Healy and Iain Henderson making a physical impact off the bench, Ireland defended with impressive discipline late on to make it two wins out of two in the 2015 RBS 6 Nations.
Joe Schmidt’s charges have now won seven successive games at the Aviva Stadium where they will host fellow unbeaten team England in a mouth-watering top of the table clash in two weeks’ time.
Ireland captain Paul O’Connell said afterwards: “It is disappointing really, the way we finished the game. We weren’t really all the things we want to be – we want to be disciplined, we want to be accurate, and we weren’t as good at those things as we’d like to be. We turned over the ball unnecessarily.
“But France are a good side, and a big side, with a lot of very skilful players. So for us to get a win is massive. The defensive effort in the second half was great – you’d rather defend with the ball, and rather have the ball for longer, putting them under pressure and defending that way, but we turned over the ball a lot and you can’t do that with them.
“They are a good side and they scored a good try in the end. I guess the pressure told eventually against us. I think today is great, though, every time we beat them it is massive.
“But I think that game against England is going to be another level. I think it is going to be a challenge like not many of us have faced before.”
Ireland controlled possession from the kick-off, the work-hungry Zebo and Heaslip getting early touches before the first breakdown decision went their way as well-placed prop Jack McGrath forced a ruck penalty.
The centre pairing of Robbie Henshaw and Payne were also quickly up to speed, the former revelling in the tough-tackling midfield and the latter threatening out wide on the right. France had their first chance to attack from a scrum penalty, but Henshaw and company wrapped up the onrushing Bastareaud, earning a turnover from the maul.
Ireland had their first mauling opportunity following a Rabah Slimani scrum offence, the French holding them up albeit with captain Thierry Dusautoir infringing and during the advantage a stretching Tommy Bowe went close to collecting Sexton’s cross-field kick in the right corner.
An assured first penalty by Sexton gave Ireland a 14th minute lead, but France were level within three minutes as full-back Kearney fumbled a high ball and leaked a penalty on the deck. Prop Eddy Ben Arous earned the plaudits and Lopez split the posts from the 10-metre line.
Sexton’s brilliantly positioned restarts gave his chasers ample opportunity to either win possession in the air or force the receiving French player into touch. Pressure from Bowe and Henshaw did the necessary towards the end of the first quarter, and with Guilhem Guirado pinged for not rolling away, Sexton gladly took the three points on offer.
Sexton increased his influence with a superb touch-finding kick over the head of his Racing Metro club-mate Teddy Thomas, however some good initial approach work was undone by a couple of ruck penalties won by the French forwards and Bastareaud also ripped the ball free to launch a dangerous counter attack.
McGrath then leaked a ruck penalty, allowing Lopez to kick the visitors deep into the Irish 22. O’Connell and his forwards did not engage in the subsequent maul and the French were duly penalised. Following runs from Bowe and Sexton, another infringement for not rolling away allowed the latter to make it 9-3, seven minutes before the break.
Half-backs Rory Kockott and Lopez sparked France into life as the tit-for-tat nature of the game continued. The Clermont Auvergne out-half fired over an excellent place-kick for outside the 10-metre line, punishing Rory Best and Sean O’Brien for coughing up a ruck penalty.
The breakdown area was fiercely competitive and referee Wayne Barnes gave Ireland a final penalty which Sexton converted to restore their six-point lead by the interval. The Dubliner excelled in the build-up again, hanging up an inviting restart kick that saw Bowe and Payne bundle the receiving Damien Chouly into touch.
Kearney took up the baton for Ireland on the resumption, catching a garryowen from Lopez and then soaring high to tap back a box kick from Conor Murray, but Sexton’s radar was off with a couple of miscued kicks towards the right corner.
Sexton was soon off to get stitches above his left eye after colliding with Bastareaud in the French 22. Ireland maintained their high-tempo start to the second half, though, and a couple of solid scrums in advanced positions had the capacity crowd baying for a try.
Peter O’Mahony charged over the top of Kockott and Chouly was caught offside, allowing Sexton’s replacement Madigan to widen the margin to 15-6. Flanker O’Mahony showed his worth again – this time in defence – as his turnover deflated a dangerous spell of French carrying as their replacements, including monster prop Uini Atonio, made an immediate impact with ball in hand.
Despite the loss of Papé, France still looked dangerous in attack with winger Yoann Huget coming more into the game, although their pass execution let them down. Ireland countered from a long range penalty, mauling through on the right before the dropped ball between Sexton and Payne meant a gilt-edged opportunity was missed.
The control that Ireland had exerted during the opening hour deserted them as a couple of scrum penalties brought France forward and Best’s 61st-minute sin-binning was a further setback to Schmidt’s men.
Ireland dug in after Lopez missed the resulting penalty, with Healy and Martin Moore added to the front row and O’Mahony relieved the pressure on the 14-man hosts with a kick to touch from his 22.
Ireland had to make more tackles as France chased the game, however the visitors lost hard-earned ground when Vincent Debaty infringed at a scrum and Chouly was offside in a lineout. The latter infringement saw the bloodied and bruised Sexton send a thumping long range kick through the uprights with just 12 minutes remaining.
France ramped up the pressure with a well-worked try as Atonio’s offload gave Huget a chance to stretch his legs on the right wing and with the Irish defence sucked in, accurate French passing made the most of numbers out wide on the left as the imposing Taofifenua evaded Kearney’s attempted tackle to touch down.
Lopez pushed his conversion effort to the right and wide and despite some late enterprise from the likes of Parra and Huget, Ireland stood firm against the fast-finishing French. The hosts’ closing highlights included a powerful maul that took them out of their 22, determined breakdown work by Healy, Jordi Murphy, O’Mahony and Henderson and a tenacious tackle count that rose to 143 by the final whistle.
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