France have put Ireland on notice with a 74-23 thrashing of Italy in Rome on Sunday Afternoon.
While the continental clash delivered a thrilling opening fifteen minutes that saw Italy and France trade tries in frantic conditions. France under the stewardship of Antoine Dupont quickly made it a non-contest securing a bonus point four tries before half-time and affording themselves a solid 18-point 35-17 lead at the break.
Despite the Italians returning from the tunnel with a glimmer of hope, 35 points was only the start for France, who through a second-half thumping would add a further 38 points to their balance, holding the Italians to just seven in the same period.
The French win could not have differed more from that of their Six Nations rivals Ireland who struggled to ever get a foothold in their clash with Wales 24 hours earlier and just escaped Cardiff with a win.
As Antoine Dupont-inspired a French performance that firmly dispelled any lingering questions about how much of a threat France would pose to Ireland's three-peat chances, nothing made the difference in performance more clear than the points difference which Les Blues now hold over Ireland in the standings.
As it stands, Ireland lead France by just three points in the standings, while the French currently hold a 63-point score difference over Simon Easterby's men. As a result, any form of win for the French in Dublin will see them launched into poll position in the table ahead of the final weekend of action, with their fate then firmly in their own hands.
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Brian O'Driscoll's Antoine Dupont stat highlights key difference between Ireland and France
Examining the comprehensive and faultless French performance on Sunday afternoon, Brian O'Driscoll pointed to a staggering stat that showed just how different the two side's games were this weekend.
The Ireland legend was speaking on ITV, when he pointed to the comparison and warned against underestimating the Antoine Dupont effect France are currently riding.
I don't think we can underestimate the Antoine Dupont factor, he wasn't there for last year's Six Nations, they were very disappointing. After under achieving at the World Cup he comes back in and they look like a totally different team. They looked different in November, they look different now.
They had pace, power, handling, great lines of running today. They had 28 offloads, that has to be some sort of record, I've never heard of anything like that.
To put it into context, Ireland have seven yesterday, Antoine Dupont had more offloads than Ireland - you know it was a massive statement performance and it will be really interesting to see what comes.
While Dupont's performance will undoubtedly have Simon Easterby looking to close any defensive gaps that showed against Wales, nothing will come as easy for France in Dublin as it did on Sunday. That said, today's performance should tee up quite the game in round four.
With France now set to travel to Dublin for a potential tournament decider in two weeks time, momentum may have just swung in the favour of a resurgent French side who if nothing else showed that they meant business in their away trip to Italy.
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