Tournament favourites France held off a late Ireland comeback in Paris to win by 43-31 for their first win of the RBS 6 Nations Championship.
The French seemed on course for a resounding victory as they ran in six tries to open up a 43-3 lead over the error-prone visitors.
Ireland rallied to touch down through Ronan O'Gara, Gordon D'Arcy, Donncha O'Callaghan and Andrew Trimble in the second half but France had done enough.
Cedric Heymans and David Marty scored two tries apiece for France after Aurelien Rougerie had justified his recall by starting what, for an hour, looked like being a rout.
The afternoon started badly for Ireland as Rougerie found space to touch down out wide and Olivier Magne, also restored to the side, added a second after eight minutes.
Marty charged down a kick to claim his first and a poor Geordan Murphy pass allowed Heymans to intercept and add another before the interval.
Heymans claimed his second five minutes after the restart and Marty made it 43-3 three minutes later.
Ireland scored what seemed a consolation as O'Gara found his way in by the posts on 56 minutes but D'Arcy followed him over four minutes later.
O'Callaghan then forced his way over from close range and Trimble set up a remarkable finish with another moments later.
Despite further pressure, it was all too late for Ireland, however, and France held on.
IRELAND XV: G Murphy (Leicester); S Horgan (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), G D'Arcy (Leinster), T Bowe (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Easterby (Llanelli), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster).
Replacements: R Best (Ulster), S Best (Ulster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), J O'Connor (Wasps), E Reddan (Wasps), D Humphreys (Ulster), A Trimble (Ulster).
FRANCE XV: Christophe Dominici (Stade Francais); Aurelien Rougerie (Clermont), David Marty (Perpignan), Florian Fritz (Toulouse), Cedric Heymans (Toulouse); Frederick Michalak (Toulouse), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (Toulouse); Olivier Magne (London Irish/ENG), Julien Bonnaire (Bourgoin), Yannick Nyanga (Toulouse); Jerome Thion (Biarritz), Fabien Pelous (Toulouse, capt); Pieter De Villiers (Stade Francais), Rafael Ibanez (Wasps/ENG), Olivier Milloud (Bourgoin).
Replacements: Sebastien Bruno (Sale/ENG), Olivier Marconnet (Stade Francais), Lionel Nallet (Castres), Remy Martin (Stade Francais), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz), Benjamin Boyet (Bourgoin), Ludovic Valbon (Brive).
