The fear coming into this game was always that the French would be physically in a stronger position and that proved to be the case.
Ireland were left disappointed in Paris. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Guy Novès asked his team to be hugely confrontational in attack with the aim of further adding to Ireland’s weariness only six days after a massively physical battle with the Welsh last weekend.
With a ball-in-play time of 42:51 last weekend – which would have been the second highest in last year’s World Cup – Ireland had to make 170 tackles, the most they’ve ever made under Schmidt in the Six Nations.
This afternoon, the ball found touch more often but Ireland did have to make another 151 tackles as the French intelligently tweaked their game plan to tire Schmidt’s men out. The result was a second-half performance utterly lacking in energy from Ireland, certainly in contrast to the French, who appeared to grow into the game as it developed.
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First-half failings
Ireland’s weak second half was made all the more costly by their failure to amass more than nine points in the opening half.
They dominated the territory and possession in the first quarter of the game especially, but rarely threatened the French tryline aside from an early peel move from a five-metre lineout.
Even the decision to go to the corner on that occasion might be questioned – easy to do in retrospect – but Ireland knew they needed to keep the scoreboard moving with the awareness of the physical toil that was ahead of them.
While there will deservedly be focus on Ireland’s concession of the Maxime Médard try and the scrum battle that swung totally into France’s favour after the introduction of Eddy Ben Arous and Rabah Slimani, Ireland’s first-half failings cost them dearly.
In a similar vein, Rob Kearney’s decision to throw a loose offload after getting behind the French defence in the 50th minute – an ultra-rare linebreak – will be reviewed critically as a calmer approach may have yielded points.
No cutting edge
A week after creating seven linebreaks against Wales, Ireland were poor in attack against the French. Kearney’s bust from a pre-planned trademark Schmidt dummy loop move aside, the visitors rarely stretched les Bleus defensively.
Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Schmidt’s strategy for this game involved some kicking over the French wings – they had one early success with Robbie Henshaw claiming the ball over Teddy Thomas – and a narrow focus in their phase play.
Without Simon Zebo at fullback or Keith Earls on the wing, there was a notable lack of creativity in the Irish backline, an apparent lack of desire to take any risks in pursuit of a try.
Andrew Trimble, Rob Kearney and Dave Kearney are a solid defensive back three unit, but one-on-one attacking skills are perhaps not their strongest suit. Even still, all three are capable of beating defenders, but this game plan didn’t ask them to attempt to do that.
Schmidt’s strategy instead focused on building scoreboard pressure through penalties – which didn’t happen enough – and holding the French at bay defensively. Damagingly for Ireland’s championship hopes, the plan failed.
Scrum see-saw
The first half saw Ireland’s scrum come out on top, Jack McGrath earning three points for his side with one particularly aggressive effort to win a 42-metre penalty that Johnny Sexton kicked.
Uini Atonio was struggling against McGrath, while Jefferson Poirot made little headway against Nathan White on the other side. It was no surprise, therefore, to see Eddy Ben Arous and Rabah Slimani brought on as early as the 45th minute.
The arrival of the Racing 92 and Stade Français props changed the shape of what was always going to be a compelling scrum contest. They won a penalty under their own posts in the third quarter, then built the platform for Médard’s try.
Indeed, Jaco Peyper could have awarded a penalty try on the third of three Irish infringements in that damaging series of scrums under the Ireland posts. The fourth in the set saw Maxime Machenaud dart to the right and tee up Médard.
Yellow card missing?
It’s an obvious excuse for Ireland to turn to, and it certainly wasn’t the deciding of the game, but France could easily have had a player in the sin bin in the first half.
Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Yoann Maestri’s late hit on Johnny Sexton, which seemed to involve an elbow, wasn’t even reviewed by Peyper when he awarded Ireland a penalty. It was the lesser of two offences, however, as Guilhem Guirado almost took Dave Kearney’s head off later in the first half.
It was a high shot from the France captain, but Peyper again missed it and there was no call from his television match official. Kearney was forced to depart with an AC injury as a direct result of that incident, according to Schmidt.
Speaking post-game, Schmidt expressed his displeasure at those two incidents, as well as the knock-on call against Dave Kearney in the first half when he believed Ireland would have scored a try from a dummy switch-switch play.
Schmidt's strategy, no yellows and more talking points from Ireland's defeat
Murray Kinsella reports from Stade de France
IRELAND LOST 10-9 to France in Paris in what was a brutal and dour game.
Read our match report here.
Wales workload takes toll
The fear coming into this game was always that the French would be physically in a stronger position and that proved to be the case.
Guy Novès asked his team to be hugely confrontational in attack with the aim of further adding to Ireland’s weariness only six days after a massively physical battle with the Welsh last weekend.
With a ball-in-play time of 42:51 last weekend – which would have been the second highest in last year’s World Cup – Ireland had to make 170 tackles, the most they’ve ever made under Schmidt in the Six Nations.
This afternoon, the ball found touch more often but Ireland did have to make another 151 tackles as the French intelligently tweaked their game plan to tire Schmidt’s men out. The result was a second-half performance utterly lacking in energy from Ireland, certainly in contrast to the French, who appeared to grow into the game as it developed.
First-half failings
Ireland’s weak second half was made all the more costly by their failure to amass more than nine points in the opening half.
They dominated the territory and possession in the first quarter of the game especially, but rarely threatened the French tryline aside from an early peel move from a five-metre lineout.
Even the decision to go to the corner on that occasion might be questioned – easy to do in retrospect – but Ireland knew they needed to keep the scoreboard moving with the awareness of the physical toil that was ahead of them.
While there will deservedly be focus on Ireland’s concession of the Maxime Médard try and the scrum battle that swung totally into France’s favour after the introduction of Eddy Ben Arous and Rabah Slimani, Ireland’s first-half failings cost them dearly.
In a similar vein, Rob Kearney’s decision to throw a loose offload after getting behind the French defence in the 50th minute – an ultra-rare linebreak – will be reviewed critically as a calmer approach may have yielded points.
No cutting edge
A week after creating seven linebreaks against Wales, Ireland were poor in attack against the French. Kearney’s bust from a pre-planned trademark Schmidt dummy loop move aside, the visitors rarely stretched les Bleus defensively.
Schmidt’s strategy for this game involved some kicking over the French wings – they had one early success with Robbie Henshaw claiming the ball over Teddy Thomas – and a narrow focus in their phase play.
Without Simon Zebo at fullback or Keith Earls on the wing, there was a notable lack of creativity in the Irish backline, an apparent lack of desire to take any risks in pursuit of a try.
Andrew Trimble, Rob Kearney and Dave Kearney are a solid defensive back three unit, but one-on-one attacking skills are perhaps not their strongest suit. Even still, all three are capable of beating defenders, but this game plan didn’t ask them to attempt to do that.
Schmidt’s strategy instead focused on building scoreboard pressure through penalties – which didn’t happen enough – and holding the French at bay defensively. Damagingly for Ireland’s championship hopes, the plan failed.
Scrum see-saw
The first half saw Ireland’s scrum come out on top, Jack McGrath earning three points for his side with one particularly aggressive effort to win a 42-metre penalty that Johnny Sexton kicked.
Uini Atonio was struggling against McGrath, while Jefferson Poirot made little headway against Nathan White on the other side. It was no surprise, therefore, to see Eddy Ben Arous and Rabah Slimani brought on as early as the 45th minute.
The arrival of the Racing 92 and Stade Français props changed the shape of what was always going to be a compelling scrum contest. They won a penalty under their own posts in the third quarter, then built the platform for Médard’s try.
Indeed, Jaco Peyper could have awarded a penalty try on the third of three Irish infringements in that damaging series of scrums under the Ireland posts. The fourth in the set saw Maxime Machenaud dart to the right and tee up Médard.
Yellow card missing?
It’s an obvious excuse for Ireland to turn to, and it certainly wasn’t the deciding of the game, but France could easily have had a player in the sin bin in the first half.
Yoann Maestri’s late hit on Johnny Sexton, which seemed to involve an elbow, wasn’t even reviewed by Peyper when he awarded Ireland a penalty. It was the lesser of two offences, however, as Guilhem Guirado almost took Dave Kearney’s head off later in the first half.
It was a high shot from the France captain, but Peyper again missed it and there was no call from his television match official. Kearney was forced to depart with an AC injury as a direct result of that incident, according to Schmidt.
Speaking post-game, Schmidt expressed his displeasure at those two incidents, as well as the knock-on call against Dave Kearney in the first half when he believed Ireland would have scored a try from a dummy switch-switch play.
How we rated Ireland in that bruising battle against France
Les Bleus edge brutal Parisian battle with Schmidt’s beaten Ireland
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Beaten Six Nations Ireland Joe Schmidt Talking Points France