They thus let slip their dreams of a second consecutive Grand Slam.

The XV of France fell for the first time after fourteen victories, Saturday February 11, in Ireland, during the second day of the Six Nations Tournament (32-19).

The last loss of the Blues of Fabien Galthié dated July 17, 2021 in Australia (33-30).

It is also their first defeat in the Six Nations Tournament since a trip to England (23-20) on March 13, 2021.

> To read also: Six Nations Tournament 2023: the calendar, the classification and all the results

Until then, from the All Blacks to the South African world champions via England or Scotland, the greatest nations in the world had broken their teeth on Antoine Dupont's teammates.

It took a big match, intense and unbreathable, of the world number ones to slow down the French train 574 days later.

The Clover XV scored four tries, by Hugo Keenan (9th), James Lowe (21st), Finlay Bealham (27th) and Garry Ringrose (73rd) to make up for a series of three consecutive losses against the Blues (35-27 in 2020, 15–13 in 2021 and 30–24 in 2022).

The French, they remained within gunshot thanks to the success at the foot of Thomas Ramos (14 points to 4 out of 5) and a try from Damian Penaud (18th), his seventeenth from the Galthié era.

Andy Farrell's men thus extend their unbeaten streak to seven games: New Zealand (23-12 and 32-22), South Africa (19-16), Fiji (35-17), Australia (13-10) and Wales (34-10) therefore surrendered to the Irish ogre before the Habs.

Sexton very close to the record

Because the teammates of Johnny Sexton, now the second best scorer in the history of the competition with 550 points, just behind his compatriot Ronan O'Gara (557), relied on their weapons and crushed the Blues.

The cold and realistic steamroller put in place by Farrell took advantage of the slightest errors of his opponents, starting with the yellow card of Uini Atonio (26th).

The offensive misunderstandings were too numerous, between Thomas Ramos and Antoine Dupont (6th), between Antoine Dupont and Grégory Alldritt (29th) or between Romain Ntamack and Gaël Fickou (37th) … to make the Aviva tremble.

The rescues in extremis of Ramos, Baille, Dupont or Ollivon only slowed down the inevitable: this Ireland was too strong.

The French have certainly shown a different face than during the sluggish victory in Italy (29-24) but they especially missed the opportunity to strike a blow six months before the World Cup (September 8 - October 28) against a potential opponent in the quarter-finals.

After the eighteen penalties conceded in Rome, the Blues corrected the situation, being whistled only seven times, including only two in the first period.

It's better but it remains insufficient to climb the Irish mountain.

The XV of France has not completely mortgaged its chances of a new coronation in the Tournament but, for that, the teammates of Gaël Fickou will have to count on a helping hand from the Italians (February 25 in Rome), the Scots (12 March in Edinburgh) and the English (March 18 in Dublin), future adversaries of Ireland.

The Blues will receive Scotland before going to England and then hoping to be able to defend their title at home against Wales.

With AFP

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