RBS Six Nations: Médard scores again as France beat Ireland 25-22 at the Aviva

Ireland 22 (15)
France 25 (12)

France beat Ireland 25-22 at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday as they took a massive step towards becoming the first side to defend their title after winning the Grand Slam in the Six Nations era.

Sunday's victory made it nine wins from their last 10 games against Ireland, and now sets up a mouth-watering clash with England in two weeks time as this year's championship decider.

The Irish started in traditionally frantic fashion and it took the marauding green masses just three minutes to grab the game's opening try when Fergus McFadden touched down after mounting pressure. Jonathan Sexton duly kicked the conversion to put the hosts 7-0 up, but France soon found their feet and got themselves on the scoreboard when Morgan Parra slotted a straightforward 12th-minute penalty.

Sexton replied in kind for Ireland four minutes later, but the home team's ongoing ill-discipline presented Parra with further opportunities as the half wore on.

The Clermont scrum-half was on target again in the 18th and 22nd minutes as France edged ever closer - taking him passed 100 Championship points in the process - and his fourth success (on 26 minutes) even took them into the lead.

Ireland's response was to go over for their second try of the match in the 37th minute after Sexton's pin-point corner kick (from another penalty) had set them up perfectly on the French line. The ensuing clean catch set up an inevitable siege of the visitors' try line and once Sexton had off-loaded after failing to break through the ball emerged for scrum-half Tomas O'Leary to complete the score after television replays.

Sexton miscued his conversion attempt this time, leaving it 15-12 to Ireland at half time.

France had the first opportunity to score again after the break, but fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc was charged down with his attempted drop-goal on 43 minutes after Sean O'Brien just did enough to get a crucial hand to the ball. 'Les Bleus' didn't have too long to wait to get on to level terms, however, with Parra's fifth success - this time from the halfway line - leaving it 15-15 after 50 minutes played.

France coach Marc Lièvremont then set about re-jigging his team over the next five minutes, with full-back Clément Poitrenaud replaced by Vincent Clerc, with Maxime Médard moving back to take the No 15 role. Thomas Domingo was also replaced (by Sylvain Marconnet), while Sébastien Chabal and Dimitri Yachvili came on for Julien Bonnaire and Parra respectively. Chabal's entrance saw the ever-popular "Caveman" slot in at number eight with Imanol Harinordoquy swapping to open-side flanker.

And Lièvremont must have been chuckling to himself as the changes brought immediate reward as Aurélien Rougerie ran through Gordon D'Arcy's feeble defence to set up Médard after a seemingly innocuous scrum on the halfway line.

Médard's try was his third in his last three Tests for France, and his 18th in all matches so far this season as he continues his free-scoring form. Yachvili's conversion lifted France 22-15 clear, but the Biarritz scrum-half was off target with a 60th-minute penalty as the visitors continued to dominate possession after the break.

More points seemed inevitable and Rory Best's side entrance into a ruck shortly after presented Yachvili with the chance to make amends, which he duly did with a sumptuous kick from the sidelines. Referee Dave Pearson also took the opportunity to warn Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll that a yellow card would be furnished if the fouling continued.

Ronan O'Gara then replaced Sexton at fly-half for Ireland and the Munster player's first serious contribution was a monster boot down the pitch which put his side deep in French territory. The visitors then made a complete mess of their own lineout with the Irish taking advantage to finally send Jamie Heaslip over after pandemonium following an O'Gara miss-kick. The fly-half made no such error with his conversion, however, and it was suddenly 25-22 to France as the match entered its final 10 minutes.

The Irish inevitably pushed to make the vital match-winning score but the play became error-strewn as nerves became increasingly frayed, with replacement hooker Sean Cronin knocking on just five metres from the French line in the final minute.

The result means France have now won eight successive Six Nations games and are well and truly back on track after their November humiliation by Australia. They may not have been at their best, but not many teams go to Lansdowne Road and emerge with victory - whether playing at the best or not.

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Date: Sunday, February 13th 2011
Referee: Dave Pearson