So France have beaten Ireland, the six nations favourites, and the whole tournament is wide open.

It was a tight match with some superb rugby and a thrilling finish. Everybody had Ireland to win this game , based on their form in the autumn. Let’s face it, you just can’t write off the French - ever! Their try in the dying minutes gave them victory when Ireland were in the process of trying to run the game time down. Some defencive slips at this stage allowed the french no. 14 (Vincent Clerc) the opportunity to break through to touch down in the last minutes.

All the players were showing signs of fatigue in the last quarter as the game had been played at such a pace. The try count evenually went in France’s favour by 2-1. This sort of game demonstrates that the autumn internationals are no indication of how the six nations tournament will go. It’s a unique contest in unique conditions. Ireland looked unstoppable in the autumn, whilst England looked like they might be wooden spoon candidates even back then. But they showed against Scotland that they have the players and now have the coach. Their display against Italy wasn’t too convincing though and consistency is something they will have to build on.

So who did you bet on for this championship? There were very few pundits rating France - and now they’ve beaten the favourites. Look for all sorts of odds changes after this weekend’s results. Take a look at our Six Nations Betting page.