Ireland started brightly, spending the opening two minutes edging closer and closer to the French line through a series of carries, but Josh Neill conceded the penalty to let the hosts off the hook.<\/p>\n
Those opening skirmishes were punctuated by a series of knock-ons from both sides but France did get over in the 12th minute, albeit at the third attempt.<\/p>\n
Originally referee Christopher Allison awarded the hosts a try before ruling it out after mishearing his official on the line who had called for an offside penalty. That penalty was brilliantly held up by Johnny O\u2019Sullivan as Tana Keletaona tried to power over; a short reprieve though as Adrien Drault scored after a beautiful crossfield pass from Luka Keletaona found Melvyn Rates who released the Bordeaux man for an easy finish.<\/p>\n
Ireland take the lead in France \u2013 a brilliant block down by Josh Neill opens the door for Christopher Barrett.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcfaRT\u00c9 News channel \u2014 RT\u00c9 Sport (@RTEsport) February 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Ireland\u2019s response was both instant and impressive and it owed much to a brilliant block down from Neill, who had the composure to find the onrushing Christopher Barrett to score \u2013 Tom Wood converting.<\/p>\n Ireland\u2019s penalty count was hurting them though \u2013 seven conceded inside 24 minutes \u2013 and it was costing them territory and letting France get up the field. From one line-out deep inside the Irish half, France powered over the line with Drault applying the finishing touch.<\/p>\n Luka Keletaona\u2019s movement as he prepared for a simple conversion was brilliantly spotted by Noah Byrne who kicked the ball away, but the out-half didn\u2019t repeat the mistake two minutes later after Romeo Bonnard Martin busted through a number of green jerseys for France\u2019s third try \u2013 a costly one with Diarmaid O\u2019Connell yellow-carded for his attempts to disrupt.<\/p>\n Suddenly France were 17-7 ahead and it got even worse on the half-hour mark when glorious footwork from Rates bamboozled the Irish defence, the winger feeding Antoine Latrasse for France\u2019s bonus-point try.<\/p>\n Ireland fought gamely and reduced the margin coming up to the break.<\/p>\n Camped inches from the French line \u2013 Dylan McNeice and Max Doyle amongst those trying to find the gap \u2013 they eventually were rewarded when Neill touched down, Wood with an easy conversion to leave it 24-14 in France\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n A series of French line-outs close to the Irish line as the clock ticked red in the first half felt crucial \u2013 and it was a battle won by Les Blues with prop Matheo Frisach scoring their fifth try of the half as they left the field 31-14 ahead.<\/p>\n Frisach scored a minute before the break and thought he had a minute after the break too, but a long TMO check around the grounding eventually went in Ireland\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n Boosted by that let off, Ireland nabbed their third try with Barrett grabbing his second. He had work to do to pick the ball off the deck and find a gap, but the half-back did brilliantly with Wood again accurate off the tee to bring the gap back to 10 points after 49 minutes.<\/p>\n France always had the tools to respond though and a good fetch from Baptiste Veschambre in the line-out set the scene for livewire Rates to sneak in on the shortside.<\/p>\n Christopher Barrett has his second try of the night as Ireland reduce the deficit to 10 points in France.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfa RT\u00c9 News channel
\ud83d\udda5\ufe0fhttps:\/\/t.co\/58N1nTXdAZ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/0LnrnAx285<\/a><\/p>\n![\"7](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0023dcda-614.jpg\"\/)
\nJames O’Leary tries to make ground for Ireland<\/p>\n
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