Six Nations: France 30-24 Ireland - hosts take control of championship with heavyweight win

France cemented their position as Six Nations favourites by holding off Ireland in a pulsating heavyweight encounter in Paris.

The hosts led by 15 points early in the second half but Ireland roared back with quickfire tries from Josh van der Flier and Jamison Gibson-Park.

Cyril Baille responded for France before Joey Carbery's penalty reduced the Irish deficit to three.

However Melvyn Jaminet's sixth penalty helped France see out a crucial win.

Billed as a meeting between the northern hemisphere's two form sides — and favourites for this year's title — the relentlessly physical spectacle did not disappoint.

Ireland, who gave a far better account of themselves in the second half after an ill-disciplined opening 40 minutes, taste defeat for the first time in 10 matches as their 12-month winning run comes to an end against the side to have last beat them a year ago.

The consensus during the game's build-up was that regardless of the result the contest was unlikely to disappoint as a spectacle given the form of both teams.

Within 10 minutes the capacity crowd at the Stade de France had gained full value for money with 17 points scored in the ferocious opening exchanges.

Antoine Dupont's decision to take a quick line-out in the first minute immediately set the tempo for a frantic contest, and France's determination to keep the ball moving paid off instantly as Romain Ntamack found Dupont with a sublime inside offload for the scrum-half to scamper home.

Having coughed up a penalty which Jaminet duly converted, Ireland found themselves in a situation they had not been in for two years: on the back foot against a team bang in form with a partisan crowd to match.

Their response was magnificent if somewhat unconventional as wing Mack