France Dominates Ireland 36-14 in Six Nations Opener

"...Never mind the argument about brief in-game adverts during ITV’s coverage. Irish fans would probably have preferred a total 80-minute blackout or, failing that, an entire evening of cookery programming...."

"...Talk about eating your greens...."

"...Had it been a drier evening it really could have been messy...."

"...Ireland, for their part, were made to look poor for the opening 40 minutes and will be grateful to their bench for bringing a little more second-half energy in this experimental slot for a Six Nations opening fixture...."

"...And maybe there is a longer-term future for big-time Thursday night rugby...."

"...When they want to put on a show in Paris there are few places quite as dazzling...."

"...It was also great to see Antoine Dupont back on Six Nations duty for the first time since wrecking his cruciate ligament against Ireland in Dublin last year...."

"...A sodden pitch and slippery ball can make life awkward even for the very best playmakers...."

"...France, though, came close to conjuring something miraculous in the opening minutes...."

"...The ball eventually rebounded forward off Charles Ollivon but it was an early sign of the threat this young French side can offer...."

"...Ireland had been suitably warned...."

"...For a moment Ireland seemed to have cleared the danger when Sam Prendergast hacked a ball up the touchline like a lower league right-back clearing his lines...."

"...France, though, managed to keep it alive and found the lurking Bielle-Biarrey, who slid out of a tap tackle by Prendergast and rounded the last man to add further gloss to his already shimmering reputation...."

"...Ireland’s only option was to dig deep and battle like mad for everything...."

"...Even that strategy was barely enough as France poured forward again, denied a second try only when Nicolas Depoortère’s final pass with the line begging ended up in Prendergast’s hands rather than either of the two blue-shirted players outside him...."

"...Again it was only a temporary reprieve as France neatly exploited the territorial platform to work the alert Matthieu Jalibert over...."

"...The mass rush to congratulate the Bordeaux fly-half said a lot about how the rest of his team see their No 10, regardless of his previously tepid relationship with the head coach, Fabien Galthié...."

"...There was also no hiding the ability and impact of the young French lock Mickaël Guillard, another with a big international future ahead of him...."

"...Time and again he came looking for work, forcing Ireland to soak up a worrying number of early tackles...."

"...The 25-year-old Lyon forward can play, too, surging into the line to maintain yet another French counterattack before throwing a deft inside scoring pass to the busy Ollivon...."

"...With Thomas Ramos kicking well it made it 22-0 at the interval with Ireland barely in the frame...."

"...Apart from one brief moment when Prendergast and Ramos were in a shoulder-to-shoulder sprint for a loose ball close to the French line there was barely a moment to make an Irish heart flutter with optimism...."

"...Even then it would not have counted, with the referee, Karl Dickson, ruling Prendergast had unfairly impeded his opponent...."

"...France did not even concede a single first-half penalty and their fourth try was another collector’s item, Ramos side-footing the ball to Bielle-Biarrey after Dupont’s little chip over the top...."

"...Ireland did finally save some face just before the hour mark when Nick Timoney crashed over and, shortly afterwards, his fellow replacement Michael Milne grabbed a second...."

"...It massaged the scoreboard pain slightly but did little to alter the wider narrative, a truth further underlined by Théo Attissogbe’s late score in the right corner...."