Mayo's Caelan Doris to the fore as Ireland hammer France

The Six Nations Championship got underway in spectacular fashion in Marseilles as Ireland defeated France 38-17 this evening. Mayo's Caelan Doris was hugely influential and ended up captaining the side in the closing stages after skipper Peter O'Mahony left the field after a yellow card and was then substituted.

Ireland started brilliantly and were 10-0 clear following a penalty from Jack Crowley and a converted try from Jamison Gibson Park. They extended the lead to 15-5 after 35 minutes when Tadhg Beirne got in for a try converted by Crowley.

France were then dealt a severe blow when Paul Willemse was red carded for a second book able offence and the home side were in trouble but they roared back into contention and got in for a converted try to close the gap to 10-17 at the interval.

Ireland pushed out to 24-10 early in the second half when Calvin Nash got in for a converted try but France are a proud squad and refused to band the knee. 

They hit back with a well-worked converted try as Irish skipper Peter O'Mahony was sin-binned.

The gap was down to a single converted try, 24-17 and Ireland needed a response.

They got it when Dan Sheehan got across the line and Crowley converted before Ronan Kelleher got over the line again in the closing minutes, Ireland had secured their biggest ever win on French soil.

Lacken's Caelan Doris had assumed the captaincy for the closing stages and made some excellent decisions to drive the men in green to a famous victory.