France lay down a marker

France reinforced their status as Six Nations favourites with a convincing 33-10 win over reigning champions Ireland in Paris.

The hosts dominated the opening half, with tries from William Servat and Yannick Jauzion putting them into a 17-3 lead.

Les Blues continued to pile on the pressure after half-time, with a try from Clement Poitrenaud and some fine kicking from Morgan Parra adding to the lead.

A Mike Wallace score gave the Grand Slam winners a brief glimmer of hope but France quickly shut down any prospective comeback and closed out victory with ease.

A scrappy opening saw both sides turn the ball over as they fought for field position.

It was Ireland who looked set to strike first as they drove towards the try-line after full-back Rob Kearney had collected his own kick, but the move broke down and France escaped.

A quick break from Gordon D'Arcy almost resulted in a try but his chip through took an unfavourable bounce and evaded both he and the on-rushing Brian O'Driscoll.

Scores

France finally put the first points on the board when Cian Healy held back Parra as he was looking to receive the ball from Alexis Palisson.

Healy was sent to the sin bin for his troubles and Parra slotted through the resulting penalty to put Marc Lievremont's side three points ahead.

Ireland were then lucky not to be reduced to 13 men when hooker Jerry Flannery's reckless trip took out Palisson.

A series of scrums saw France close in on another score, with Servat eventually being handed the ball to touch down under the posts from five metres out.

Ireland reduced the gap straight from the restart as Fulgence Ouedraogo was found guilty of blocking and Ronan O'Gara converted the penalty to make it 10-3.

But France responded almost immediately as powerful centre Mathieu Bastareaud broke through the line before the ball was spun out the other way and Jauzion dived over the try-line.

Parra's second conversion of the match then gave the hosts a 15-point advantage with just over half-an-hour gone.

Chances

When France did not release after the tackle, Ireland were given a golden opportunity to score on the stroke of half-time from a lineout in the corner.

But the French defence stood firm on their own try-line and after a knock-on fell into their hands, they were able to put the ball into touch to end the half.

Five minutes after the restart Les Blues touched down again but this time the try was not given as Vincent Clerc and Ouedraogo had combined to knock the ball on.

Replacement Julien Malzieu also came close to extending the advantage but despite collecting his own kick and crossing the try-line, he was bundled into touch by two Irish defenders before he could ground the ball.

Another attempt fell short when fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc's run through the Ireland defence ended with a knock-on just metres from the line.

But when Keith Earls mishandled inside his own 22, France pounced and Bastareaud's neat offload allowed Poitrenaud to score in the corner with Parra adding a difficult conversion.

Moments later, Parra slotted a beautiful drop goal through the posts as France looked to be cruising towards a comfortable win.

But the scoring kept coming thick and fast as Stephen Ferris and O'Driscoll combined to play in David Wallace with O'Gara adding the extras to make it 27-10.

Parra was then handed two penalty attempts in quick succession, with the first coming back off the upright while the Clermont scrum-half made no mistake with the second.

Frederic Michalak put the icing on the cake with a drop goal in the dying stages to stretch the advantage to 23 points as the Irish finished well beaten.