Ireland 13-15 France – as it happened

France and Wales now have nine points apiece at the top of the table. France are in the lead with a points difference of +42 to Wales’s +6. Next up in this tournament, in two weeks’ time, we have Italy v Ireland, Wales v England and France v Scotland. See you soon for more. Bye!

The Ireland head coach Andy Farrell speaks: “It’s very hard ... you tend to over-analyse, you need to take stock and calm down a bit ... you can take a lot of positives but we had opportunities to win the game there, and we came up short in the end. I thought we managed the game really well in the first half ... even though the rain stopped, it was still very wet, and obviously the French like to come with a lot of line speed ... We was doing very well set-piece wise, but we just lost our way a little bit in the third quarter ... some of that was a bit soft from us.

“They [the Ireland team] put their bodies on the line for their country, but it still hurts to lose that game.”

Michael Aylwin’s match report is here:

Penaud’s try. Lovely stuff.

OUI LES GARCONS!

The France team manager Raphaël Ibañez talks to ITV - “We’re obviously very pleased with the win. It was a hard-fought win away from home, so it’s a big relief for the boys. Our defence was outstanding throughout the whole game ... it showed our team spirit and our character was there ... of course there were a few mistakes, and Ireland showed a lot of bravery, but in the end it’s fantastic for us to get the win.

“We take it step by step. We’ll enjoy the win tonight, regroup as a team, and we’ll get ready for the next challenge.”

The Ireland captain Henderson speaks: “Massively frustrating ... we had the opportunities to go and do it. When you’re not taking those opportunities, especially at home, you’re not where you need to be ... we’ve got to go away, review what we’ve been doing. We’ve got a two-week break now, a chance to get away and refresh our heads now, come back and make sure we’re really tuned in to fix those mistakes.

“When they go down to 14 men, you have to capitalise in this game, you’ve got to punish people for having ill-discipline, and we just didn’t do that. That was our opportunity to get up in the game, but what was it, two points we ended up down by? A penalty in there or a try, and that’s a different-looking second half.”

Henderson is asked where the two defeats leave Ireland: “You’ll have to do the maths on that one ... It leaves us with our backs against the wall, massively ... as I said, we need to review what we’ve done, and make some pretty quick fix-ups.”

80 min: Clock in the red. Ireland have the ball, going through the phases but only around halfway ... and France are holding firm and even driving them back.

78 min: Dupont makes a darting run, then puts up a high kick, and Cretin, fittingly, gives away a mindless penalty for a push while the ball is in the air. Ireland have a penalty and now have the ball, at least.

77 min: Thomas claims a high kick in style. Ireland can’t get the ball ... but now they can - Lowe and Gibson-Park make inroads down the left, but Gibson-Park has a foot in touch, and France will have a lineout on halfway. Into the final couple of minutes.

75 min: Pressure on Ireland, with another French attack into the 22, but some fine spoiling work in defence brings an Irish put-in at the scrum. Two points in it but they have no field position right now.

72 min: Dupont embarks on a strong, sniping run deep into the Irish 22 and then offers up an excellent, sympathetic pass for his teammate Le Roux. Dupont really is a joy to watch and appears to be in the form of his life. He burst through no fewer than three tackles on that run and grabbed the initiative for his team.

70 min: Anthony Jelonch and Damian Penaud are off, Dylan Cretin and the aforementioned Thomas on for France now. Into the final 10 minutes. Ollivon has gone down with cramp. And France have a kickable penalty ... but Jalibert hits the post! So close! Ireland can still win it with a penalty of their own. It wasn’t the hardest penalty for Jalibert, he drew it right to left, and it hit the left-hand post. Galthié looks disgusted up in the stands.

66 min: Lowe crashes a kick out on the full and hands the initiative back to France. Thomas is on for the visitors now. He’s immediately into the action, as Jalibert spins a pass to him on the right wing, but it’s slightly behind him, and Thomas spills it. Ireland have a scrum in their own 22.

63 min: Ireland have more momentum now as they crash repeatedly into contact and start to make inroads, albeit around halfway. France concede a penalty for a high hit, and Ireland will go for the posts, with Byrne calling for the kicking tee. This is a long kick though, close to halfway - 44metres from goal.

60 min: Into the final quarter, and Ireland suddenly have every chance of turning this match around. Ringrose has the ball in hand close to halfway, and is driven back. Stander charges into contact again. The French defence holds firm. The only worry for Ireland is that their try materialised from a bit of a lucky bounce of the ball. They need to create an opening.

50 min: Ringrose sends a good low kick behind the French defence, on the right wing. But there is a lovely step by Villière, sporting a bright red scrum cap, which relieves the resulting pressure on the visitors. The clock is ticking down and Ireland need to start making more of an impact in attack if they are going to avoid falling to a second defeat.

47 min: Possession for Ireland around halfway. Gibson-Park tries to prompt his forwards to smash into contact, which they do, but eventually Lowe opts to kick, and he pins France back with a good strike for touch into the 22. Ireland are soon penalised for closing the gap at the lineout. Ireland are competing well, but France just look that much more dangerous when they have the ball.

44 min: Penaud spots space behind the Irish defence, and sends through a clever low kick, but Lowe has time to deal with it. France get the ball back, and Penaud has a dart, this time with the ball in hand. Dupont then produces a stunning no-look pass to Alldritt, appearing to have eyes in the back of his head, and Alldritt needs no second invitation to go bursting through the defensive line. France’s attacking machine is looking increasingly well-oiled, and Ireland have their work cut out.

41 min: A break in play after Healy and Henderson clash heads when trying to tackle Alldritt. That looked nasty. They both look to be cut, and will both need to go off at least temporarily. Dillane and Ed Byrne are on as blood replacements.

Brian O’Driscoll speaks on ITV: “Ireland are only a score behind, there is no need to panic. Take some risks and you’ll get the rewards.”

34 min: Ireland make progress with the ball in hand towards the French 22, in a central position, but Stander is penalised for going off his feet at a ruck, and France can clear. If Galthié’s men can get to half-time ahead on the board, having soaked up 10 minutes with 14 men, they will be very pleased.

33 min: France are back to 15, with Le Roux coming out of the sin bin, and they are also ahead on the scoreboard, which is a bit of a worry for Ireland - they put their opponents under plenty of pressure in the first 20, but only have three points to show for it. And France were always going to be a threat on the counterattack.

25 min: France gamble by throwing the lineout long, close to their own line. Henderson reads it, and nearly grabs it, but knocks it on and now it’s a scrum for France five metres from their own line. The first scrum is reset, and at the second France clear their lines.

23 min: France knock on, and Ireland have a scrum in their own half. They pay lip service to trying to run the ball, but the Gibson-Park puts a high box kick up. Now, the TMO is looking at a potential yellow card for Bernard le Roux for a trip on Keith Earls.

19 min: Ireland build another attack. France are slowing the ball down at every ruck. The referee, Luke Pearce, tells them that they have to start getting away from the tackle area quicker. He also tells Gibson-Park not to try and buy penalties after the scrum-half deliberately tripped over a trailing French foot.

16 min: Now it’s Haouas who is penalised for France, going off his feet with France in possession, and Ireland have a very kickable penalty. But Burns gets it all wrong, sending it way to the right. Farrell, up in the stands, looks suitably displeased with that effort on goal. But on the plus side, Ireland have kept France very quiet in attack so far, and are asking them questions in defence.

13 min: The France prop Cyril Baille is penalised for collapsing a scrum, and Ireland have a platform to attack. Burns sends CJ Stander crashing into contact with a pass off his left hand, but Fickou does superbly to rip the ball out of Stander’s hands. In the next phase of play Burns puts up yet another garryowen, which Dulin confidently marks.

10 min: Another lineout, and Ireland are now penalised for holding on in the tackle after some good work on the floor by France. France choose to kick, but Ireland are off the hook as Jalibert sends his effort to the left of the uprights.

7 min: Dulin sends a fantastic low raking kick deep into the left corner as the French are attacking. Defensive lineout for Ireland. Ireland win clean ball from the lineout, rumble a rolling maul forward and France give up a penalty.

5 min: Another garryowen from Burns breaks nicely for Ringrose on the Irish left. Ireland then punch through a few carries into the French 22. Early field position for Andy Farrell’s men, and now a scrum on the French put-in after a knock-on.

4 min: Kick tennis, from one end of the pitch to the other, with neither side looking for touch until James Lowe booms one deep into Les Bleus’ territory. Let’s hope we don’t see too many of those aimless kicking exchanges.

3 min: Having almost been charged down in the first few seconds, Dulin drops a high kick by Burns, so it’s not been the best start for the French No 15.

Kamil Perrussel slides into my DMs on Twitter, with a message from across the water: “Watching the game from France, it’s refreshing to see our team at the top level again. Let’s hope Les Bleus will deliver against Ireland and roll toward the Grand Slam this year!”

Here we go. The teams are out and it’s time for the anthems. You know my feelings on La Marseillaise, it’s the best anthem going, although the French players’ rendition of it was pretty half-hearted.

It is a bit breezy in Dublin. Yesterday, Ireland’s bus was delayed when strong winds caused a malfunction at the level crossing by the stadium:

The former Ireland captain Rory Best, speaking on ITV via Zoom, reckons the home team can get the right result: “I just feel Ireland’s experience up front, especially with tricky conditions with the wind in Dublin, will be enough to see them through.”

Ten minutes until go-time.

And here is Robert Kitson on why England still have plenty of work to do despite a comfortable enough win over Italy:

There’s still time before kick-off to read Andy Bull’s match report from that stunning win for Wales last night -

Can Ireland do it? Let me know what you think. You can email me here or send me a tweet here.

Reflecting on that late error by Burns last week, Robert Kitson writes that it should not define him. And that’s the beauty of sport, isn’t it? He’s got a chance to put it right today:

Ireland won the toss and will bat. Or kick off, at least.

Today’s referee, Luke Pearce, is described as English in the above tweet, although he was born in Pontypool. Hopefully he’s already turned his phone off and won’t see Twitter.

“You have to prepare to experience chaos. We have to be ready for the unexpected, even if we do not think Ireland will change the way they play too much.” So said the France head coach, Fabien Galthié, in the run-up to today’s encounter. Paul Rees previews the match here: