France 26-21 Ireland

Feb 10 2008

A SUPERB second-half Ireland revival could not prevent France - inspired by hat-trick hero Vincent Clerc - hanging on for victory in Paris.

The game looked over as early as the 50th minute when Cedric Heymans added to Clerc's trio of first-half scores to put Les Bleus 26-6 ahead.

But the Irish responded magnificently with a penalty try, a touchdown by David Wallace and a Ronan O'Gara penalty - his third of the game.

They piled on the pressure in the closing minutes but ran out of time to complete what would have been an amazing recovery.