Ireland faced France at the Aviva Stadium this afternoon for their second Six Nations fixture. The men in green were hoping to make amends for their poor performance against Italy last weekend, but despite a much improved display and a bitter fight to the end, Ireland fell to a narrow 22 – 25 loss against Marc Lièvremont’s men.
Ireland began their campaign in style, with Luke Fitzgerald touching down after just three minutes. However, the referee decided it came off a forward pass and awarded the subsequent scrum to France.
After a few handling errors from France, the ball landed back into the arms of the Irishmen, with newly-capped Fergus McFadden diving over the try line, five minutes in, to score his first International try. Jonathan Sexton added the conversion. Ireland 7 France 0.
A solid scrum from Ireland after the restart looked certain to end in another try for the home side, before Tomas O’Leary knocked on.
Minutes later and Ireland’s Sean O’Brien was penalised for not rolling away and France’s Morgan Parra opted for the posts, landing his first penalty of the game. Ireland 7 France 3.
Sixteen minutes . . .
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