Antoine Dupont: Ireland 'surely favourites' for Six Nations title

Antoine Dupont warned France they must improve quickly before facing Ireland in next weekend's Guinness Six Nations clash after needing to overcome a sloppy start to beat Italy 37-10 in Paris on Sunday.

Les Bleus host Andy Farrell's side in the second round of the competition with Ireland heading to Paris for next Saturday's game off the back of a convincing bonus-point victory over reigning champions Wales at the Aviva Stadium.

Gabin Villiere's hat-trick ultimately powered Les Bleus to a bonus-point victory of their own in wet conditions at the Stade de France, but Italy struck first through debutant Tommaso Menoncello as they benefitted from the hosts' early ill-discipline.

The final score perhaps flattered the French, and Dupont admitted a repeat performance would not be good enough against Ireland.

"The supporters will have seen that we made a lot of errors this evening and a lot of poor decisions in difficult conditions," Dupont said. "At least we can be satisfied with the result. We were imprecise in all parts of the pitch, we gave them things, penalties, forward passes. We have to correct those and be more serious and rigorous. The chances will then follow.

"We know Ireland is a big cheese, surely the favourites for the championship. They showed how good they are yesterday, we know what awaits us."

We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Villiere got his first try late in the first half, then helped France make sure of victory in a more assured second-half showing.

"You have to be at your best on the first