Ireland best France to top Pool D

Ireland secured top spot in Pool D with a hard-earned 24-9 victory over France in Cardiff on Sunday. Joe Schmidt’s men will be ecstatic with the win, but will have to consider the heavy cost as they suffered injuries to key players Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony, Jonny Sexton, and Keith Earls. Sleep will not be easy in the coming days.

Both sides did their part to make the first half a Six Nations special, bludgeoning their way into opposition territory using their big men up front. The strategy found limited success, although France would earn two long-range cracks at goal. Both missed – one each by Frédéric Michalak and Scott Spedding.

After a few more minutes of arm wrestling, Ireland would get their own shot at the posts on an offside penalty against Mathieu Bastareaud. Sexton slotted the offering from 40 metres, and Ireland took a 3-0 lead with 13 minutes gone. France responded a few minutes later off the boot of Spedding, the South-African bred fullback smashing a successful penalty kick from midfield to level the scores.

Sexton nudged his side back ahead shortly after, but again Spedding’s monster boot had a reply, sending one soaring over from halfway to even things up through 23 minutes. Soon after, the kicking duel looked like it might have shifted in France’s favour when Sexton was forced out of the game with what what has been reported to be a groin injury. Ian Madigan came on as a replacement and nailed penalty kick straight away in a confident start under immense pressure to take Ireland out in front.

The injury woes continued as Ireland’s worst nightmares came true when talisman O’Connell went down just before halftime with what appeared to be a serious hamstring injury. Iain Henderson filled in admirably, but the likely loss of the captain will be a massive blow moving forward.

France continued to attack the Irish defense with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but the men in green held fast. That approach took its toll on the French, who soon looked to have run out of gas. Ireland’s counterattacks began to make steady inroads, and their ambition would pay off in the 51st minute as Rob Kearney — returning from his own injury troubles a week before — scored the first try of the match, much to the delight of the small army of Irish supporters at the Millenium Stadium.

O’Mahony was the next to go off after his boot stuck in the turf and he looked to have twisted a knee. Chris Henry came on as his teammate was stretchered off, and not long after Earls was off as well, though his injury did not appear to be as serious as the others.

Though Ireland controlled the majority of possession and territory, France refused to go away, with Morgan Parra coming off the bench to nail a penalty and claw his team back to within one score with 15 minutes yet to play. Ireland’s versatility would prove to be their ace in the hole, as they pulled off a devastating drive from a lineout that set up a Conor Murray try, touched down at the base of the posts. Madigan eased over the conversion and added a penalty to finish a tough but successful day at the office.

Ireland now march into the quarter-final against Argentina next weekend with a bevy of injury worries and an uneasy wait on flanker Sean O’Brien, who could see himself in front of the citing committee for an ill-advised punch to the midsection of Pascal Papé in the opening minute of the match. France meanwhile will have to regroup as they face a familiar World Cup foe in the All Blacks – a rematch of the 2011 final.

FRANCE 9
Pens – S. Spedding 2 (16, 23), M. Parra (64)

IRELAND 24
Tries – K. Earls (19), C. Murray (72)
Pens – J. Sexton 2 (13, 19), I. Madigan 2 (29, 77)
Cons – I. Madigan (73)

FRANCE
1 E. Ben Arous (V. Debaty 43) 2 G. Guirado (B. Kayser 58) 3 R. Slimani (N. Mas 63) 4 P. Papé (A. Flanquart 73) 5 Y. Maestri 6 T. Dusautoir (capt.) 7 D. Chouly (B. le Roux 55) 8 L. Picamoles 9 S. Tillous-Borde (M. Parra 55) 10 F. Michalak (R. Talès 55) 11 B. Dulin 12 W. Fofana 13 M. Bastareaud 14 N. Nakaitaci (A. Dumoulin 62) 15 S. Spedding

IRELAND
1 C. Healy (J. McGrath 57) 2 R. Best (R. Strauss 73) 3 M. Ross (N. White 65) 4 D. Toner 5 P. O’Connell (capt.) (I. Henderson HT) 6 P. O’Mahony (C. Henry 55) 7 S. O’Brien 8 J. Heaslip 9 C. Murray (E. Reddan 76) 10 J. Sexton (I. Madigan 25) 11 D. Kearney 12 R. Henshaw 13 K. Earls (L. Fitzgerald 62) 14 T. Bowe 15 R. Kearney

match report by Kyle Phillips, follow Kyle on Twitter @nomadenhaft