Storm Johnny blows away chances of French rugby team

There had been concern in Irish rugby circles beforehand that the visitors arrived in Dublin unusually well rested, thanks to a break from club games and a warm-weather training camp in Nice.

But as the French team and many of their 7,000 supporters may have discovered, the Cote d’Azur is not necessarily the best place to prepare for a wet and blustery February weekend in Ireland.

Storm Doris had departed by Saturday and Storm Ewan was yet to arrive. So the actual game took place in a window of relative calm. Despite this, when the rain swept over the Aviva Stadium’s low end during the second half, it was in the defending French team’s faces.

So by then was Storm Johnny, the returning Irish number 10, who after a quiet start, had blown the visitors’ challenge away.

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The larger than usual French support was evident in the number of signs around Lansdowne Road earlier reading “billets souhaités” and “cherche places”.

And however many of the visitors found tickets, they were the noisier set of supporters inside the ground for much of the first half. The usual lusty rendition of Le Marseillaise, with its promise to "irrigate our furrows with the blood of the stranger", set the tone for an opening 20 minutes, in which all the excuses to cheer were theirs.

Microscopic knock-on

Two penalties gave them a 6-0 lead. But Ireland were also lucky when what looked like a good try was ruled out for a microscopic French knock-on. The visitors chanted “Allez les bleus”.

The home crowd was as silent as the “x” in Bordeaux. Somebody needed to the lift their voices. And as so often, that somebody was a player with a non-silent “x” in his name.

In recent games between these sides, Johnny Sexton’s blood has been central to French plans for furrow-irrigation. But perhaps benefiting from rugby’s new anti-guillotine directive, aimed at eliminating high tackles, Sexton’s head made it to half-time intact, for a change, by which stage it had turned the game.

The day’s only try came from Ireland’s equally inspired scrumhalf, Conor Murray. But a swaggering second-half drop-goal capped Sexton’s masterclass, which had all but secured victory by the time he made way for his understudy, Paddy Jackson, with 11 minutes left.

It was a good weekend all round for Ireland teams. The women and under-20s won too. So did a grand coalition of Irish parliamentarians, which beat a French political selection 15-5 on Saturday.

The distinguished visitors there included deputy Philippe Folliot, secretary of the Assemblée Nationale’s defence committee. But even he was powerless to prevent tries by Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan, Fine Gael Senator Neale Richmond, and Finbarr Madigan, husband of Fine Gael TD Josepha.

Special rules

Under the game’s special rules, there were no attempted conversions: except perhaps of Simon Coveney supporters in the impending leadership vote. He wasn’t playing. But his rival, Leo Varadkar, was.

There was a surprise late entrant for Irish rugby’s outstanding performance of the weekend award, however. Italy coach Conor O’Shea took his side to play England in Twickenham on Sunday, with about as much chance, it seemed, as the Christians had against the lions.

In the event, the visitors severely embarrassed their hosts for most of the match, before losing 36-15, a fraction of Ireland’s winning margin over Italy. Eddie Jones’s team now face a resurgent Scotland, championship contenders themselves.

Meanwhile, Ireland play Wales in Cardiff on Friday week, before what still promises to be the mother, father, and extended family of a championship climax at home to England on St Patrick’s weekend.