Match over as soon as it began

France 43 Ireland 21

France were delighted at how they played while it was still a contest and Ireland salvaged some pride from potential disaster.

Incredibly, they outscored the French 21-16 in the second half but, thankfully, nobody in the Irish camp was deluded by this with a clear recognition that the game was dead and buried by the interval when the score was 27-0 in favour of Bernard Laporte’s side.