Hosts France revive World Cup bid

PARIS, France -- France put their nightmare start to the Rugby World Cup firmly behind them with a 25-3 dismissal of Ireland in the Stade de France on Friday night.

Leading 12-3 at half-time, courtesy of four penalties from man-of-the-match Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, a pair of tries from Toulouse wing Vincent Clerc put the result beyond doubt and left the Irish contemplating a likely World Cup exit.

Coach Eddie O'Sullivan's men must now beat Argentina by a massive margin and score four tries in their final Pool D game to entertain any hopes of making the last eight.

France, upset by Argentina in the opening match, were themselves facing an ignominious departure, but victory all but earned them a likely quarterfinal against favorites New Zealand.

"We really needed to pull out a big match and above all else to win. We went about it in just the right way," said French coach Bernard Laporte.

"We built up our attacks and we knew how to stay patient except for two or three in the first half."

"We didn't get the bonus point and that's a pity, but the important thing was to win and move ahead of the Irish and that's what we did."

France were always on top against a lackluster Irish side who had struggled to beat Namibia and Georgia in their two opening games.

A drop goal by fly-half Ronan O'Gara in the 37th minute provided Ireland with their only glimmer of hope, cutting the France lead to 9-3, but Elissalde's fourth penalty after a spell of concerted pressure near half-time re-opened their advantage.

He duly slotted over his fifth penalty early in the second half before a moment of magic by home fly-half Frederik Michalak completely undermined Ireland.

His clever kick found his clubmate Clerc in acres of space to score the first try of the match.

Ireland lost experienced lock Paul O'Connell to the sin-bin and while he was sitting it out Clerc added his second try deep in the right hand corner to seal a comfortable victory. E-mail to a friend