RBS 6 Nations: France target Grand Slam after dismantling Ireland 33-10 in Paris

France (17) 33 Ireland (3) 10

France ran in three tries - and could have had three more - as they ended Ireland's 12-match unbeaten run in emphatic style with a 33-10 victory in Paris on Saturday.

Marc Lièvremont's team played with power, panache and purpose as they combined brute force with typical French élan to once more underline their Championship credentials following their first round win in Scotland.

Bit whereas the Edinburgh victory had been borne of functionality this latest win was sprinkled with stardust - albeit with a malfunctioning lineout that still requires a good deal of hard work.

Lièvremont won't mind that as it will help focus minds ahead of their three remaining games, but for now the French can relax and enjoy the product of their considerable labours after inflicting Ireland's first defeat in 16 months.

The visitors started brightly in a predictably frenetic opening, twice stealing French lineout ball and also turning the home side's blitz defence thanks to Gordon D'Arcy's neat chip kick, but Cian Healy's 17th-minute yellow card proved a turning point as the Irish prop was correctly penalized for taking out scrum-half Morgan Parra without the ball.

Parra exacted immediate revenge by slotting the first of his six successful kicks and the home side's mounting dominance should then have resulted in a further yellow for the Irish - or even red - when Jerry Flannery took a wild kick as winger Alexis Palisson (that eventually led to the Brive man going off injured). English ref Wayne Barnes inexplicably failed to produce a card but the resultant penalty eventually led to the game's opening try when hooker William Servat went over from close range after sustained pressure from France's increasingly dominant pack, with number eight Imanol Harinordoquy inevitably in the midst of the decisive break.

Ronan O'Gara managed to get the Irish on the board with a penalty two minutes later, but France surged further ahead just beyond the half hour when centre Yannick Jauzion touched down after another fluid move had stretched the Irish defence. Jauzion's centre partner Mathieu Bastareaud was again instrumental to the score - after his Man-of-the-Match performance against Scotland - with his decoy run this time proving sufficient threat to create space for the Stade Toulousain player to score.

Parra was again on target with the conversion - as he had been after Servat's score - and France's stout defence then withstood Ireland's desperate late push for a reply just before the break.

The home team's final try came on 59 minutes when full-back Clément Poitrenaud became the third Toulouse player to score, again after considerable help from the rampaging Bastareaud, who withstood Brian O'Driscoll's tackle to make the crucial pass. It was a try that perfectly encapsulated the French attack, with Bastareaud's battering presence combining purposefully with Poitrenaud's silky running to maximum effect.

Parra's third successful conversion was then followed two minutes later with an opportunistic drop-goal, and at that point it seemed that everything the talented scrum-half attempted was turning to gold as France powered into a 27-3 lead. Parra, lest we forget, was only starting due to Julien Dupuy's 23-week ban, but the Clermont youngster played as if to the manor born, and backed up his midweek claims that France had nothing to fear from the reigning Grand Slam champions.

That is the target that France are now bearing down on themselves, and with England and Italy at home, and Wales away, who's to say they can't achieve that this season?

Ireland did manage a response of their own before the end, with O'Driscoll finally making a break that enabled Wallace to cruise in, but their muted celebrations told the tale of the evening as the marauding French completed an outstanding win.

O'Gara's conversion brought the Irish back to 27-10, but there was still time for Parra to add his second penalty of the evening before his replacement Frédéric Michalak rounded off the scoring with a neatly taken drop-goal.

And if the final winning margin looked impressive then Ireland were only spared further humiliation by some desperate defence that denied Vincent Clerc, Julien Malzieu and fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc from adding more tries.

French coach Lièvremont refused to get carried away after the win, saying his squad now needed to back it up with consistency. "But we are very happy," he added, "and I am very proud of the players today."

His attention is now on France's next match away to Wales. "The hardest part is always the next game. Everyone knows that we haven't won three matches in a row [under his coaching regime] and achieving a victory in Cardiff will not be easy," he added.

Winger Clerc described it as "a great performance" but admitted to being surprised by the eventual margin of victory, while O'Driscoll said defensive errors had compounded Ireland's problems. "We made it hard for ourselves," he admitted. "We lost our shape at times, maybe we panicked a bit and we didn't take the right options when we got into their territory."

O'Driscoll, who scored a hat-trick of tries to help Ireland to an historic St Patrick's Day win in Paris in 2000, added: "It is one thing losing close games but being beaten badly is hard to take."

Ireland coach Declan Kidney admitted his side had been outplayed at the Stade de France. "It was France's day, and when you get beaten by three tries to one you can't complain."

The only down side for France was that both starting wingers (Palisson and Clerc) were forced off, adding to their increasing list of injured wide men after Aurélien Rougerie and Benjamin Fall were both sidelined during the Scotland game.

France starting XV: Poitrenaud, Clerc, Bastareaud, Jauzion, Palisson, Trinh-Duc. Parra, Harinordoquy, Ouedraogo, Dusautoir (capt), Papé, Nallet, Mas, Servat, Domingo.
Subs: Szarzewski (for Servat 49), Marconnet (for Mas 49), Pierre (for Papé 74), Bonnaire (for Harinordoquy 62), Michalak (for Parra 67), Marty (for Clerc 48), Malzieu (for Palisson 24).
Ireland starting XV: Kearney, Bowe, O'Driscoll. D'Arcy, Earls, O'Gara, O'Leary, Healy, Flannery, Hayes, Cullen, O'Connell, Ferris, Wallace, Heaslip.
Subs: Best (for Flannery 61), Court (for Hayes 49), Ryan (for Cullen 61), O'Brien, Reddan (for O'Leary 69), Sexton (for O'Gara 69), Paddy Wallace (for Kearney 35)