Winners
Maxime Lucu
When Antoine Dupont limped off injured, the game was in the balance. France brought on their only back on the bench, Maxime Lucu, and he played extremely well. Not only did France not skip a beat, they actually got better. The brilliance of Dupont means that people often forget just how many exceptional scrum-halves France have. Lucu is the best of those options and showed exactly why on Saturday.
Fabian Galthie
The French coach has been under a lot of pressure since the defeat at the stadium formerly known as Twickenham, and needed a big response from his players. He got just that in Rome with his side putting 73 points on Italy. The game in Dublin was set to be much harder and it was close in the first half. However, once France got themselves ahead in the second half, the game was practically over as they ran rampant until two irrelevant late Irish tries were scored. France are now the firm favourites for the tournament and all is well in Paris - for now at least.
Oscar Jegou
When I wrote that there was just one back on the bench for France, I meant that there was just one player listed as a back on the bench. Jegou, despite normally being a flanker, was the best centre on the pitch by a mile. He only got caught out of position once and was a big presence with the ball as well as being physically dominant off of the ball. His performance will likely reinforce Galthie's decision to go with seven forwards on the bench.
Cian Healy
Cian Healy was obviously on the wrong end of the result on Saturday, but in his final home game for his country he put in an impressive performance which was capped with a try at the end. Ireland's most capped rugby player departs with a final try and an individual performance to be proud of.
Losers
Cian Prendergast
That was his worst game in an Ireland shirt and, given his lack of experience, probably his worst game as a professional. Prendergast was exposed in defence even more starkly than he has been before. He also came up short in the kicking game and struggled to gain any control whatsoever. Even then Crowley was only brought on to play inside centre rather than to change the game from his natural position. The coaching staff seem determined to stick with Prendergast but if these performances continue that will become even more controversial than it already is withing Ireland.
Joe McCarthy
He started the game by committing a stupid, cynical penalty which got him a yellow card. When he returned, things didn't really improve. His modus operandi is being the most physical player on the pitch and dominating contact. Usually that works but on Saturday things went the other way and he found himself dominated by a fierce French pack.
Peter O'Mahony
O'Mahony struggled throughout. He was caught out of position a few times and things should've been worse for him. He got away with two very cynical challenges on Louis Bielle-Biarrey which he managed to convince the officials were legitimate attempts to block a chip. For everyone else watching, however, both challenges were obviously cynical and should have resulted in at least one yellow card.
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