By Padraic Halpin
DUBLIN (Reuters) – France absorbed early setbacks including the loss of captain Antoine Dupont through injury to beat defending champions Ireland 42-27 at the Aviva Stadium and move into pole position for the Six Nations title on Saturday.
Dupont sustained a knee injury after half an hour but Les Bleus overturned a 13-8 deficit with brutal force to top the table with 16 points, two ahead of Ireland, with third-placed England on 10 ahead of their home match against Italy on Sunday.
France’s flying winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored two tries while Paul Boudehent, Oscar Jegou and Damian Penaud, who equalled Serge Blanco’s French record of 38 international tries, added one each. Thomas Ramos kicked the rest of the points for a resounding victory that ended the hosts’ Grand Slam hopes.
Ill-disciplined Ireland, who lost James Lowe to a warm-up injury and picked up two yellow cards, scored three tries through Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy and Jack Conan, the rest of their points coming from the boot of Sam Prendergast.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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