France got the better of Ireland in a fantastic game in Paris as the hosts won out 30-24.
Ireland will collect a losing bonus point and even managed to run in three tries in Paris, but were undone by the strong French side.
Hardly 60 seconds where on the clock when Antoine Dupont opened the scoring for the French with a swift try, converted by Melvyn Jaminet.
When Jaminet added an eight minute penalty it looked like Ireland were set for another Paris nightmare.
From the restart Mack Hansen capitalised on French hesitation collecting Joey Carberry kick and cross the whitewash. Carberry converted to make it 10-7.
Three Jaminet penalties pushed France into a 19 points to seven lead at half-time. Jaminet added another penalty four minutes into the second-half.
Ireland came right back into contention with two tries on five minutes. Josh Van Der Flier and Jamison Gibson Park closed the gap to a single point by the 50th minute.
Cyril Baille had the perfect response for France, showing incredible power to hold off tackles from both O'Mahony and Beirne to get over the line two minutes later.
Joey Carberry kept Ireland intouch with a 72nd minute penalty, but Ireland were unable to close out he gap.
Dan Sheehan produced heroics two minutes from time to hold up the ball as Jaminet tried to ground it in a penalty advantage.
While the try was ruled out Jaminet slotted over the penalty top seal the 30-24.
