Disappointment for the home rugby supporters as France are too good for Ireland at Lansdowne Road.
Among the 35,000 rugby supporters making their way to Ireland's first game in the Five Nations Championship was amateur filmmaker Norman Hodgson who captured the images shown here.
The crowd was entertained by two bands and the French and Irish teams were introduced to President Seán T O'Kelly before the game began. Norman Hodgson took a seat in the stand for the match where he filmed some of the action.
The final score was Ireland 9 France 16.
Ireland played France at Lansdowne Road, Dublin on 29 January 1949.
The film shown here was shot by Norman Hodgson (1905-1974). Born in Lenzie in Scotland, Norman married Marjorie Towers in 1932 and came to live in Skerries county Dublin in the late 1930s. He was an avid amateur filmmaker who recorded many sporting and social highlights of Irish life in the late 1940s and 1950s. Norman's films were deposited with the RTÉ Archives by his family and are known as the Hodgson Collection.
