Although France Captain Antoine Dupont sustained a knee injury after half an hour, Les Bleus overturned a 13-8 deficit with brutal force.
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.
The French now top the table by two points heading into their final match at home to Scotland next Saturday.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP)
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