Rory Best grabbed a try on what could be his final Six Nations appearance at the Aviva Stadium as Ireland defeated France 26-14 in the penultimate round of the 2019 Six Nations.

Despite there being only twelve points between the sides, Ireland were dominant in every facet of the game barring a switch off in the last ten minutes.

Ireland took an early lead inside three minutes through a rolling maul with Best popping up with the ball. While it was a well worked forward try, credit must also go to Jordan Larmour, whose kick put France under pressure and gave Ireland an attacking lineout in the French 22.

The hosts had the majority of the play in the opening 20 minutes and forced an inexperienced French side into playing inside their own 22m line which ultimately led to a second try.

A dominant maul got the squeeze on, before the Johnny Sexton loop with Garry Ringrose, coupled with a Larmour dummy run allowed the World Player of the Year to cross for his first try since the 2015 World Cup. Larmour’s run turned the shoulders of Yoann Huget allowing for a gaping hole for Sexton to exploit.

Ringrose thought he had scored the third try after a Sexton Garryowen but the Leinsterman had knocked the ball on as he crossed the line, however it wasn’t long before the third try was scored. Iain Henderson ripped the ball from Demba Bamba and, after Ireland excellently retained the ball for a number of phases, Jack Conan crashed over in the corner

Despite being three tries up at half time, Ireland had over 70% possession and territory. Slight inaccuracies let a poor French side off the hook on a number of occasions. France spent just five seconds of first half inside the Irish 22, presumably when Thomas Ramos had his try disallowed inside the first ten minutes.

From a French point of view, the start of the second half was an improvement; their defence pressured Ireland into mistakes while in attack they began to get more joy. Ireland were first on the score board however as Keith Earls secured the bonus point try after a great set piece play. CJ Stander found his provincial team mate on the inside as he broke from the maul and Earls exploited the gaping hole to run in from the 22m line.

Ireland’s dominance resumed and they spent the next 20 minutes on the French line. They were unable to score any more points and allowed France two soft scores. Huget was the first before Camille Chat crossed on the final whistle, Baptiste Serin converting both.

IRELAND: Rob Kearney, Keith Earls, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray, Cian Healy, Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, James Ryan, Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier, CJ Stander. Replacements. Niall Scannell, Dave Kilcoyne, John Ryan, Ultan Dillane, Jack Conan, John Cooney, Jack Carty, Jordan Larmour

FRANCE: Thomas Ramos, Damian Penaud, Mathieu Bastareaud, Gael Fickou, Yoann Huget, Romain Ntamack, Antoine Dupont, Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado, Demba Bamba, Felix Lambey, Sebastien Vahaamahina, Wenceslas Lauret, Arthur Iturria, Louis Picamoles. Replacements: Camille Chat, Etienne Falgoux, Dorian Aldegheri, Paul Willemse, Gregory Alldritt, Baptiste Serin, Anthony Belleau, Maxime Medard

Ireland were always comfortable in this match and I was surprised France didn’t ask a few more questions than they did. Ireland face an uphill battle to win the tournament as they take on Wales at the Principality Stadium as they need to defeat Wales and rely on results to go their way. To win the title Ireland need to defeat Wales and hope that England lose to Scotland at Twickenham in the following match.

An Irish title is not looking likely.