Gavan Casey

• Hugo Keenan — 8: Huge tackle on Damian Penaud prevented a certain French try near half-time. Made two more sickening-looking hits in a selfless and sound defensive display.

• Calvin Nash — 7: A try-scorer on his first Six Nations start and matched the work-rate of the man opposite him, which is no mean feat. Almost spotless in defence.

• Robbie Henshaw — 8: Shared the load with Bundee Aki — they made nine carries each — and put plenty of dents in an equally powerful French midfield. Did exceptionally well to keep the move alive for Nash’s try.

• Bundee Aki — 8: Picked up where he left off at the World Cup. Two big involvements in Gibson-Park’s opening try, including the killer half-break and offload.

• James Lowe — 8: Broke French hearts with his left boot. Smart interception yielded Ireland’s first attacking opportunity from which Crowley eventually poked over for 3-0. Massive maul turnover on Thomas Ramos as France began to turn the screw approaching the hour mark. Has gone from defensive liability to defensive colossus in two years.

• Jack Crowley — 7: Seemed over-eager to show just how unfazed he was in the first half and took some poor options with the boot, as well as leaving three easy points on the tee. Still beautifully teed up Tadhg Beirne for Ireland’s second try just five minutes after that miss, though, and executed to near perfection throughout the second half with the air of a test player 10 years his senior. 

• Jamison Gibson-Park — 8: Fast. Smart. Vintage. Made a super support run for his try. Covered incredible ground twice in quick succession to make key defensive interventions on either side of the 70-minute mark.

• Andrew Porter — 7: Big jackal-penalty win after half-time stemmed a French probe. Penalty concession to Uini Atonio at scrum-time led to Damian Penaud’s try on the stroke of half-time, but another big turnover win sparked Nash’s score as Ireland pulled away once more.

• Dan Sheehan — 8: Flawless darts as Ireland went 100% on their own ball. Massive in the maul. Bonus-point try-scorer. Led the team in tackles made — and that he had to make only 10 tells its own story. 

• Tadhg Furlong — 7: Held his own in the scrum and got through a serious body of dirty work, particularly in protecting Irish ball at the breakdown.

• Joe McCarthy — 9: Believe the hype. The dominant forward on the field in the loose. Averaged about 3.5 metres across nine carries. Even on the occasions when he initially lost the gain-line in the tackle, he tended to win it back again by just dragging French players back across it. 

• Tadhg Beirne — 9: His lineout steal on his own 5′ towards the end of the first half (one of two Beirne steals on the night) was virtually as valuable as his well-taken try. Won five off Ireland’s own ball as Sheehan’s primary target. Made three more carries than his second-row partner, leading the team with 12. 

• Peter O’Mahony (captain) — 8: Early jackal-penalty win consolidated a good Irish start, and he was a touch unfortunate not to get another later in the first half. Despite not making a steal, he put the French lineout under savage pressure. Led the team for tackles at the time of his yellow card, in which he became — literally — the fall guy among several Irish infringers.

• Josh van der Flier — 8: Tough to sum it up statistically — but just played extremely hard. Integral to Ireland’s speed of ball at the ruck.

• Caelan Doris — 8: Excellent pass out to Nash for Ireland’s third try. Massive counter-ruck blew France off their own ball moments later. After a quietish start, he led the forwards with 41 metres gained off nine carries and several of his eight tackles were of the thunderous variety.

Replacements:

• Rónan Kelleher (Sheehan 63′) — 7: A brilliant bench option and picked up where Sheehan left off, both at the lineout and over the whitewash.

• Cian Healy (Porter 8′ & 63′) — 7: Still impactful, and still so important, 15 championships in. 

• Finlay Bealham (Furlong 63′) — 7: Locked the French out at scrum-time.

• James Ryan (McCarthy 66′) — 7: Huge impact in Ireland’s final driving maul which sent Kelleher over.

• Ryan Baird (O’Mahony 63′) — 7: Three big carries made for an influential cameo.

• Jack Conan (Van der Flier 63′) — 8: Five thudding carries and the same number of sore-looking hits. Excellent kick through in the dying minutes which forced Mathieu Jalibert to concede a lineout and, in reality, the game. 

• Conor Murray (Gibson-Park 70′) — 7: Entered a dead game but made use of his short cameo.

• Ciarán Frawley (Nash 79′) — n/a: