Twitter to reacts to the first half of Ireland vs France, a half full of injuries and dropped balls

Carl Kinsella

It’s been a solid half at the Stade de France.

Ireland looked the better side for large portions of the first-half of their second Six Nations outing, but scores on the board were the problem for a while, with Ireland taking until just before half-time to register a third score.

All of Ireland’s 9 points came from Sexton penalties, with France scoring one of their own to keep the score at a tense 9-3.

The half was punctuated by a lot of dropped balls and more than a few unacceptably high tackles from the French, leading to a lot of complaints on Twitter about the ref.

France grew into the game, scoring a penalty of their own. Les Bleus were also bolstered by injuries to Dave Kearney and Sean O’Brien, prompting Gordon D’Arcy to speak out against France’s aggressive play.

Here’s his tweet, as well as many others that sum up the half:

French gameplan, injury as many irish players as possible, force Ireland to make 200+ tackles & grind out win. 6 day turn around is brutal

— Gordon D'Arcy (@Gordonwdarcy) February 13, 2016

Great catch from Henshaw and the cross-field kicks from Sexton are looking good! #IREvFRA

— Aoibheann (@Aoibh) February 13, 2016

A serious start from Ireland in the conditions. Tenacious tempo once again. We have to make it count on the scoreboard…. #IREvFRA #COYBIG

— Anthony Shannon (@AnthonyShannon2) February 13, 2016

https://twitter.com/DamienDevlin1/status/698516499632357376