Rugby World Cup , Pool D - Millennium Stadium, 11 October 2015, 16:45 local, 15:45 GMT
France (6) 9 - 24 (9) Ireland (FT)

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Summary

Time Score  
 

This is the game that Pool D has been building up to. Ireland and France have comfortably-enough seen off the lesser lights and now they face-off to see who will top the group. The winner will face Argentina in the quarter-finals. The loser will face New Zealand. That seems like a pretty good incentive to play hard here. A preview can be found here. And here are some predictions:

And this from our man in Cardiff:

1

And we are off...

2

It's a full-blooded start to the game with big kicks and hits and Ireland getting just a little better of the exchanges. There's a Frenchman undergoing long treatment near the halfway line while the action goes on around him.

3

Was there an off-the-ball punch? This could be feisty indeed.

4

Ireland win a scrum close to their own line and try to run the ball but then lose it to an offside and the French have a penalty and a chance to take an early lead.

5

And a wobbly Michalak kick goes wide.

6

Already signs that this game will feature all the blood and guts we suspected...but might be short on quality as a result. France spin the ball wide before the attack comes to nought.

7

Furious rucking in the midfield ends with an Irish knock on, but at least they stopped Bastareaud from offloading.

8

Another kicking opportunity for France - just inside the Irish half.

9

The Frenchman hits the post!

10

And now Ireland have a penalty about 45 yards out. Here's Martyn Thomas from the stadium on France's first kick:

11

No such troubles for Sexton has he kicks it straight down the middle. 3-0

12 0 - 3

More toughness in the midfield. Meanwhile one of our regular readers/tweeters is with us from an unusual location:

13

Michalak makes a lovely little break but is then halted. And then France get a penalty and Spedding equalises for France. Although his kick was long and straight enough, it was also more than a bit wobbly. 3-3.

15 3 - 3

17 3 - 3

Sexton -

18 3 - 6

Ireland are moving forward in the midfield and have an advantage. They try for a drop-goal which bounces back off the post - and so Sexton will now have a penalty attempt instead.

19

Sexton tucks it just inside the French post and it's 6-3 to Ireland.

20

Ireland kick the ball to France and there's some comedy chasing around in the French half as Nakaitaci jigs one way and then the other. No escape until his pack get back to support.

21

And France have another penalty - just inside their own half - after a high Irish tackle. Sexton also getting some treatment.

22 6 - 6

Spedding makes it and it's 6-6. That was the joint longest penalty kick scored in this tournament.

23

24

The French attack but then Ireland counterattack. Sexton is down again having taken another knock. There's more French interplay and a whistle but the two packs continue going at it, completely ignoring the referee.

25

Sexton was the victim of a huge - but just about legitimate - hit. He's blowing hard and Ireland are bringing on Madigan at fly-half. That is a blow to the Irish - especially if this game continues to be a kicking battle.

26

Our man at the last game of the day tweets this:

27

Ireland have another penalty and here's a first chance for Madigan.

28 6 - 9

It's a clean contact from a good distance out and Ireland lead 9-6.

29

The kick off is long and Kearney runs it back, but eventually into trouble, although the referee decides that the French defence constituted obstruction there and Ireland have a penalty and a kick into touch for territorial gain.

30

But the lineout goes long and gifts the ball back to France.

31

Ireland break and into the French 22 and Bowe passes the ball to Earls in a great position but he fumbles. Disaster for Ireland.

32

The Irish pack are now working through the phases. The French are defending high and ferociously and eventually Les Bleus win a penalty.

33

Neither side showing enough composure for a try here - it's going to be about the forward battle - who is stronger and who can avoid giving up penalties. The French get a turnover after an irish scrum, but then give the ball back with another penalty when in a dangerous area on the edge of the irish 22.

34

Madigan dinks a little kick into the corner and it bobbles and Spedding wants to pick it up but it just keeps bouncing away from him. French lineout deep in their own 22.

36

Eventually the French clear their lines and Ireland will have a lineout inside their own half.

37

Ireland again have possession and are working through the forward phases just inside the French half, but they are making very few yards every time, and frequently going backwards. Sterling French defence.

38

The French try to run but don't get far. Spedding boots it long to Madigan who boots it back but it's too far and goes straight into touch. Will France have an opportunity in time added on?

40+1

The French win their own lineout and pass the ball well to Spedding who gets a half-break but not quite through. France are working the phases while ireland are a man down as their inspirational captain Paul O'Connell is down in midfield. Eventually Ireland win a penalty deep inside their own territory.

40+2

Not sure we will see O'Connell come back after half-time - he looks as if he may have suffered a torn-hamstring in a ruck.

40+3

40+4

Here's Martyn Thomas' half-time verdict from Cardiff: "For the first half an hour events at the Millennium Stadium bore a striking resemblance to those at Twickenham 24 hours previously. Two impassioned teams arrived pumped up and determined not to lose with a quarterfinal against New Zealand one to be avoided. Freddie Michalak wobbled - uncharacteristically for this tournament - with the boot early on, but two long-range Scott Spedding penalties kept France in touch of Ireland, who struck through Jonny Sexton (2) and one from his replacement, Ian Madigan. There were gasps from those in green when Sexton hobbled off yet Madigan has injected pace into the Irish attack. How they may come to rue Keith Earls' butter fingers, though, when 80 minutes is up."

40+5

 

Views on how this second half might play out:

40

Ireland inch through the forward phases but keep on running into the sort of tackling that has already seen the Irish lose two of their most influential players.

41

As Ireland look to break and as if they may have a man over at last, it is fumbled out wide.

42

43

44

Still a bit scrappy as neither side can find fluency and both teams are tackling ferociously. Ireland on the front foot but struggling to make good distance.

45

And then the Irish spill the ball forwards and France will have the scrum.

46

The Irish attempt to swing the ball wide and are almost intercepted. Another Irishman is down injured.

47

And finally the Irish break with speed and gaps appear. Henshaw breaks the line but the attack ends a couple of yards short of the French line.

48

49 6 - 14

There's an Irish ruck on the French line and eventually the ball is back to Kearney and he scores a TRY!

50

Madigan misses the conversion from out wide and it's 14-6 to Ireland

51

Gaps are opening and this game looks as if it might have more points in it. Dusautoir fumbles in a dangerous area on the edge of his own 22 and ireland have the put in at the scrum.

53

The Irish shove, the French hold, the ball is in the hands of the irish backs but then the ball is lost and France boot it clear.

54

55

The French ring the changes and bring on Parra to give them more attacking options. Meanwhile Ireland lose another player to injury.

56

Ireland are having the better of the exchanges at the moment and have a cushion of more than one score. But eventually this passage of play comes to an end with the French being awarded a penalty just outside their own 22.

57

58

Now France are inside the Irish 22 with a lineout and then a rolling maul. This time it is strong Irish tackling that ends the drive. Both defences have been STRONG.

59

Ireland break with a Madigan chip over the French lines which almost creates the break. Almost. Ireland continue to drive forward.

60

61

Now it's France's turn to drive forward. France have a penalty as O'Brien is ruled to have smothered the ball illegally.

62

Parra boots it over from long distance and it's a five-point game.

63 9 - 14

Parra - penalty goal

64

The Irish pressurise the French into kicking the ball away. There are more men on the ground.

65

France win a penalty for a high tackle (Parra is small so it's hard for a bigger guy to reach down) and kick for territory.

66

Quick French hands see the ball reach the wing but the irish stand firm again. The French then switch the ball the other way before the attack ends with a knock on.

67

Another French lineout deep in Irish territory. France win the lineout but are pushed back a good 15 yards and have to start building again, and then they give up the ball for crossing. France look to have run out of steam and ideas and are staring at a quarter final against the All Blacks.

69

Ireland win a penalty inside their own half and a long kick takes them down to the French 22 and a lineout and now a rolling maul and a ruck and another ruck and a half break by the forwards and more ferocious tackling by Les Bleus....

70

And another phase and another and Conor Murray finally gets the TRY!

71 9 - 19

The try finally came under the posts and Madigan kicks a straightforward conversion and Ireland have a 12-point cushion.

72 9 - 21

France attempt to run the ball back but there's a knock on and another assault comes to nought.

73

An interesting point about the TRY:

74

Five minutes to go, Ireland have a penalty just inside the French half but are going to go for a long range effort (that will certainly take the full 60-seconds to take)

76 9 - 24

Madigan's kick is good and it's 24-9.

77

The heart has gone out of the French. They can prepare for the All Blacks next weekend. Ireland will be happy with Argentina. The Argentinians are no pushovers, but they're no All Blacks either.

78

The Irish scrum pushes the French back and then they win a lineout. The Irish are controlling the ball as we move into the final moments....

79

The French forwards move the ball through the phases.

80

A Spedding knock on brings the game to an end. Job done by ireland. Now they need to assess the wounded.

80+1

Martyn Thomas' verdict from Cardiff: "Amid a raucous atmosphere at the Millennium Stadium, Ireland secured the win they craved so much, and they richly deserved it. It came at a cost, with head coach Joe Schmidt potentially without four frontline players for the quarterfinal against Argentina as Paul O'Connell, Jonathan Sexton and Peter O'Mahony limped off and man of the match Sean O'Brien appeared to be guilty of punching Pascal Pape. But Ireland's fans should be allowed to bask in a wonderful win for now. Schmidt's side ultimately won the arm wrestle which enabled them to play the rugby that earned two tries. For France they flickered too briefly and will face New Zealand in Cardiff. But we know how that goes, right…"

80+2

And now we move on to USA vs Japan.

Timeline

Time France  Score  Ireland
0 start of first half start of first half
12 0 - 3 Sexton - penalty goal
15 Spedding - penalty goal 3 - 3
18 3 - 6 Sexton - penalty goal
22 Spedding - penalty goal 6 - 6
25 Madigan - sub on
Sexton - sub off
28 6 - 9 Madigan - penalty goal
40+1 end of first half end of first half
40 start of second half start of second half
O'Connell - sub off
Henderson - sub on
42 Debaty - sub on
Ben Arous - sub off
47 Debaty - sub off
Ben Arous - sub on
49 6 - 14 RDJ Kearney - try
54 Tales - sub on
Michalak - sub off
Parra - sub on
Tillous-Borde - sub off
Chouly - sub off
le Roux - sub on
Henry - sub on
O'Mahony - sub off
56 McGrath - sub on
Healy - sub off
58 Guirado - sub off
Kayser - sub on
61 Bastareaud - sub off
Dumoulin - sub on
Earls - sub off
Fitzgerald - sub on
63 Slimani - sub off
Mas - sub on
Parra - penalty goal
9 - 14
64 Debaty - sub on
Ben Arous - sub off
Ross - sub off
White - sub on
71 9 - 19 Murray - try
72 Flanquart - sub on
Pape - sub off
9 - 21 Madigan - conversion
Best - sub off
Strauss - sub on
76 9 - 24 Madigan - penalty goal
Murray - sub off
Reddan - sub on
80+1 end of second half
end of half
end of second half
end of half
0
81

Notes

 
Result Ireland won by a margin of 15 points
Rugby World Cup points Ireland 4, France 0
 
Ground name Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (neutral venue)
Attendance 72163
 
Referee N Owens
 
France Test debuts none
Ireland Test debuts none

Teams

France Ireland
Tries none Tries RDJ Kearney (49), Murray (71)
Cons none Cons Madigan (72)
Pens Spedding (15, 22), Parra (63) Pens Sexton (12, 18), Madigan (28, 76)

Match stats

France   Ireland
0 Tries 2
0 from 0 Conversion goals 1 from 2
3 from 5 Penalty goals 4 from 4
60.0% Kick at goal success 83.0%
0 Dropped goals 0 (1 missed)
Kick/pass/run
24 Kicks from hand 36
94 Passes 213
90 Runs 172
268 Metres run with ball 423
Attacking
31% (37%/24%) Possession (1H/2H) 69% (63%/76%)
28% (39%/20%) Territory (1H/2H) 72% (61%/80%)
2 Clean breaks 2
11 Defenders beaten 23
6 Offloads 3
62 from 67 (92.5%) Rucks won 146 from 152 (96.1%)
1 from 2 (50.0%) Mauls won 5 from 5 (100.0%)
17 Turnovers conceded 8
Defensive
197/23 Tackles made/missed 99/11
90.0% Tackling success rate 90.0%
Set pieces
4 won, 0 lost (100.0%) Scrums on own feed 9 won, 0 lost (100.0%)
10 won, 3 lost (76.9%) Lineouts on own throw 10 won, 1 lost (90.9%)
Discipline
10 Penalties conceded 14
0/0 Yellow/red cards 0/0

Fra stats

Pos   T/A Pts K/P/R MR CB DB OL TO Tack LO Pen Y/R
FB Spedding 0/0 6 6/8/11 61 2 1 3 1 0/1 0/0 0 0/0
W Nakaitaci 0/0 0 1/2/5 3 0 2 0 2 3/0 0/0 0 0/0
C Bastareaud 0/0 0 0/1/4 2 0 0 0 3 10/2 0/0 1 0/0
C Fofana 0/0 0 2/3/4 25 0 1 0 1 10/1 0/0 0 0/0
W Dulin 0/0 0 5/1/7 38 0 1 0 0 3/0 0/0 0 0/0
FH Michalak 0/0 0 1/14/1 10 1 2 0 0 7/4 0/0 0 0/0
SH Tillous-Borde 0/0 0 7/30/8 20 0 0 0 2 7/1 0/0 0 0/0
P Ben Arous 0/0 0 0/0/4 11 0 1 0 3 13/1 0/0 0 0/0
H Guirado 0/0 0 0/2/7 19 0 0 0 0 13/2 0/0 1 0/0
P Slimani 0/0 0 0/3/2 1 0 0 1 0 12/3 0/0 0 0/0
L Pape 0/0 0 0/2/5 1 0 0 0 0 17/1 1/0 2 0/0
L Maestri 0/0 0 0/3/5 5 0 0 1 0 17/3 5/0 1 0/0
F Dusautoir 0/0 0 0/1/6 13 0 0 0 2 21/1 0/0 1 0/0
F Chouly 0/0 0 0/2/6 25 0 0 0 1 12/1 3/0 1 0/0
N8 Picamoles 0/0 0 0/5/4 24 0 2 0 0 21/1 0/0 0 0/0
(H) Kayser 0/0 0 0/1/1 0 0 0 0 0 3/0 0/0 0 0/0
(P) Debaty 0/0 0 0/0/0 0 0 0 0 0 3/1 0/0 2 0/0
(P) Mas 0/0 0 0/0/2 1 0 0 0 0 3/0 0/0 0 0/0
(L) Flanquart 0/0 0 0/0/0 0 0 0 0 0 3/0 0/0 0 0/0
(F) le Roux 0/0 0 0/0/1 0 0 0 0 0 9/0 1/0 0 0/0
(SH) Parra 0/0 3 0/11/3 5 0 0 0 1 2/0 0/0 1 0/0
(FH) Tales 0/0 0 2/3/2 0 0 0 1 0 6/0 0/0 0 0/0
(C) Dumoulin 0/0 0 0/2/2 4 0 1 0 1 2/0 0/0 0 0/0
Key T/A Tries / Try Assists Pts Points scored
K/P/R Kick / Pass / Run MR Metres Run with ball
CB Clean Breaks DB Defenders Beaten OL OffLoads TO TurnOvers
Tack Tackles made / missed LO LineOuts won on throw / stolen on opp throw
Pen Penalties conceded Y/R Yellow / Red cards

Ire stats

Pos   T/A Pts K/P/R MR CB DB OL TO Tack LO Pen Y/R
FB RDJ Kearney 1/0 5 4/1/14 70 0 2 0 1 2/0 0/0 0 0/0
W Bowe 0/0 0 0/5/8 50 1 2 0 0 3/1 0/0 1 0/0
C Earls 0/0 0 1/5/8 33 0 1 0 1 9/2 0/0 0 0/0
C Henshaw 0/0 0 3/4/17 73 1 4 1 0 7/0 0/0 0 0/0
W DR Kearney 0/0 0 1/1/6 15 0 3 0 0 5/1 0/0 0 0/0
FH Sexton 0/0 6 3/5/2 8 0 0 0 0 1/0 0/0 0 0/0
SH Murray 1/1 5 9/129/5 4 0 0 0 0 3/0 0/0 1 0/0
P Healy 0/0 0 0/0/12 8 0 0 0 1 6/0 0/0 2 0/0
H Best 0/0 0 0/3/8 4 0 1 0 0 7/1 0/0 1 0/0
P Ross 0/0 0 0/0/2 1 0 0 0 0 3/1 0/0 0 0/0
L Toner 0/0 0 0/2/8 15 0 0 0 0 5/0 3/1 2 0/0
L O'Connell 0/0 0 0/2/5 12 0 0 0 0 4/1 1/0 0 0/0
F O'Mahony 0/0 0 1/1/11 14 0 2 0 1 6/2 3/0 2 0/0
F O'Brien 0/0 0 2/6/21 34 0 2 0 2 7/1 0/0 2 0/0
N8 Heaslip 0/0 0 0/3/8 13 0 0 1 0 11/1 2/0 1 0/0
(H) Strauss 0/0 0 0/0/0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0 0/0 0 0/0
(P) McGrath 0/0 0 0/1/5 2 0 0 0 0 3/0 0/0 2 0/0
(P) White 0/0 0 0/0/0 0 0 0 0 0 2/0 0/0 0 0/0
(L) Henderson 0/0 0 0/3/8 18 0 4 0 2 5/0 0/1 0 0/0
(F) Henry 0/0 0 0/2/6 5 0 0 1 0 2/0 1/0 0 0/0
(SH) Reddan 0/0 0 0/10/0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0 0/0 0 0/0
(FH) Madigan 0/0 8 12/30/16 36 0 2 0 0 8/0 0/0 0 0/0
(C) Fitzgerald 0/0 0 0/0/2 8 0 0 0 0 0/0 0/0 0 0/0
Key T/A Tries / Try Assists Pts Points scored
K/P/R Kick / Pass / Run MR Metres Run with ball
CB Clean Breaks DB Defenders Beaten OL OffLoads TO TurnOvers
Tack Tackles made / missed LO LineOuts won on throw / stolen on opp throw
Pen Penalties conceded Y/R Yellow / Red cards

Other scores

Rugby World Cup
Argentina 64 - 19 Namibia Leicester
Italy 32 - 22 Romania Exeter
Japan 28 - 18 USA Gloucester
ITM Cup
North Harbour 36 - 12 Northland North Shore City
Otago 43 - 30 Bay of Plenty Dunedin