France coach looks to beat Wales next
A beaming France coach Marc Lievremont stopped short of declaring France had turned the corner to become consistent winners after overwhelming defending Grand Slam champions Ireland 33-10 in Paris on Saturday.
First-half tries by William Servat - his second for his country - and Yannick Jauzion - his 19th in his 65th test - and a second-half one from Clement Poitrenaud - his sixth - with Morgan Parra chipping in with 15 points saw France easily see off a rather flat Irish team.
Ireland - winless in Paris since 2000 - managed one try through David Wallace while Ronan O'Gara kicked the rest of their points.
The win followed a French victory over Scotland by 18-9 as France lived up to their Six Nations favouritism but Lievremont was hesitant when asked if his team had shaken off its past inconsistency.
"As you all are aware we have been stuck on this curse of never winning three in a row since I have been in charge," said Lievermont.
"When one knows that this third victory, requires us to beat Wales in Cardiff (in a fortnight), one has to be careful."
However, France captain Thierry Dusautoir hailed his side's improved discipline.
Dusautoir, who lived up to his nickname the "Dark Destroyer", said that another huge performance from his pack paved the way for the large margin of victory.
"A huge improvement in our discipline has made a big difference and what is great is that has become consistently the case," said Dusautoir.
"It has been a while now that the French scrum has been performing at a high level.
"Only once have we been found wanting, when we were caught in a trap by the All Blacks (last November). We scrummaged strongly but with less intelligence.
"We were after producing both qualities this evening and we succeeded in doing so, and we are very happy with that."
Lievremont said that the fact during his coaching reign he had used over 70 players only reflected the strength in depth of the French game and no other country could rival it for that.
"One has to applaud the rich seams of talent among the French rugby playing fraternity," said Lievremont.
"I do not know any other country that is competitive in a dozen different positions, even if one logically in that situation has 30-40 players to pick from."
Outscored three tries to one, the Irish were never really in contention as they saw their hopes of a grand slam repeat blown away.
To make matters worse for them they had to watch as France halfback Parra - who had unjustifiably accused them of being cheats on Thursday - produce a peerless kicking performance.
However, coach Declan Kidney - whose side only really showed their true worth in the first 20 minutes before losing their heads and prop Cian Healy to a yellow card - said there were no excuses in a defeat that heralded the end of a 12 match unbeaten run which had yielded him the IRB coach of the year award.
"We gave them a 14 point lead and once they were able to get ahead they were able to stroll away," said Kidney.
The French made the Irish pay for being one man down as with Healy preparing to return to the fray Servat crashed over while Parra converted to make it 10-0 - O'Gara reduced the deficit with a penalty just before the half-hour mark.
However, the French now well and truly had their tails up and in the 31st minute Jauzion went over, after Mathieu Bastareaud had made the initial break, leaving the Irish to get a talking to by O'Driscoll - Parra converted to make it 17-3.
The Irish were really under the hammer from the start of the second-half.
The pressure told as Keith Earls - who had moved from wing to replace the injured Rob Kearney at fullback - caught the ball in the 22 for a fair catch but in taking the quick kick he fumbled it and knocked it on.
France took full advantage from the ensuing scrum as they fed it out to the left and Poitrenaud eased into the corner to touch it down - Parra added an impressive conversion followed minutes later by a wonderful drop goal.
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