France won the clash between the last two Six Nations grand slam champions yesterday by coming from behind to beat Ireland 25-22 and set up a potential title decider with England in the next round.
Ireland, lucky to grind out an opening day win in Italy last week, showed glimpses of their championship-winning form of 2009 to take a three-point halftime lead thanks to tries from wing Fergus McFadden and scrumhalf Tomas O'Leary.
An earlier try by Luke Fitzgerald was ruled out for a marginal forward pass.
Defending champions France, who kept in touch through the boot of Morgan Para, took the lead for the first time through Maxime Medard's try on 55 minutes. Dimitri Yachvili then extended their lead to 10 points.
Irish number eight Jamie Heaslip, back from injury after missing last week's trip to Rome, pulled a converted try back and, but for a Sean Cronin knock-on near the end, Ireland could have got the win they perhaps deserved.
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